FGUn AM Aftermath

le Plavina Game set in
Post-Holocaust world
I
Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)
Actual Age Recog. Fanor looks Personal ENC Talents (15 + 2D6 = -points to allocate
Charismatic Combattve Communlcatlve Esthetic Mechanical Natural Scientific
Bus
ltlocmrd
Current
------BCS
__
Encumbrance Maximum value carried with status
Enter Armor Value on Location covered
ISkills
Off-hand Dexterity Brawling Survival,
In Pack or Bag (Capacity
Item
Caveroae Farmnt
fade AV E N C I
Weapons
Type
length
Formal
Survival Value
WDM
ENC
Worn
ENC Carried
Total
I
Attribute Ratlng 0 0 GroupNumber EffectDls none
ATTRIBUTE GROUP CHART

1-4 1 1D3 5-14 2 1D6 15-24 3 lDlO 25-34 4 2D6 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 5 6 7 8 2D10 2D10+1 2D10+2 2D10+2
REACTION TABLE
01.
This is a very hostile reaction It usually indtcates the mtiation of action if the overall reaction is unfriendly Iftheoverall reaction is friendly it lends to indicate a lack of interest in continuing to deal with the Player Characters
This is a negative reaction It can indicate growing hostility

This 1s a negative reaction relationship Negative Indifference It signals a deteriorating
An undecided reaction with leanings to the negative

i reaction indicates no leanings i n one direction or t
In negotiations. it might call for a Deriod l o consider t uaiton An undecided reaction with leaninqs t o the positive This is a positive reaction ationship This is a positivr -"ction willingness to a It can signal an in
ltindicatesgrowing fri--*'.. linaness - ._ is e aid
offered free'
--j before it is requested
.,
EN-
---3ANCE VALUE CHART
0.1 0.3 0.6 1.o 3.5 7.0
01 06 1.o 15 35 50 10 0
HVY
BULK VSm . .very small able to be hidden in a hand, such as a coin, gem, smatl jewelry, etc. can be held and used with one hand and does not project far from the hand, such as knives, candles, clubs, lanterns, etc. held and used in one hand but significantly larger than the hand, such as short swords, torches, etc. usable in one hand and up to about a meter in length, such as swords. large tools, bundles, etc. able to be held or carried in one hand but usually requiring two hands to use properly, such as
h
es, iongoows, poiearms, isbows, rifles. etc greater than 6 feet long and bulky, usually requires two
Sm
HG1 mattress, small giant. 2: horses, carts, small car, etc. and so on VLt
Med The mosi common mount for a man IS the horse The statistics for an average horse are given here. eAP MNA PCA CDA DRT STR DFT SPD HLH 6 2 60 30 14 24 24 12 2 AV SF ENCCAP MASS 3 12 12 32 Attack modes. WDM Length BCS Notes S 7 minus1 STR Group Teeth 15L Hoof, unshod 1.5C 2 attacks when used Hoof, shod 1.7C and a WDA equal to 3
. . medium..
.. . very light
.........
Lg ....I
....
.. .
Lt ..... light Hvy . VH' MS
. . heavy .. . . . . ..
very hear massive,
VLg . .very large
wood, paper, feathers, cloth, etc flesh, IeRther. water, heavy woods, etc stone, gemstones, iron, brass. etc. lead, silver, etc MS1. aold. Dlatinum. etc. MS2 iranium. plutonium. etc and so on
VARIATION IN CHARACTER STANCE DUE T O POSITIONING Presented Frontal
ENCUMBRANCE STATUS
Status Unencumb I up to 1/2 ENC CAP Partially Encumbered up to 314 ENC CAF Fully Encumbered up to full ENC CAF Deftness Speed BCS
* * no modifications ***
-25% -50%
-25%
-1
.2
Rear
Rear
A character may carry: 1 "thing" on his back. 1 "thing" up to Very Large in each hand. 1 "thing" slung over each shoulder. 10 "things" on a belt.
Copyright
INHERENT ACCURACY TABLE Weapon Inherent Uaed Size Accuracy -1 SNUB SHT +0 STD +1 LNG +2 XLNG +2 Shotgun Rifle Slug Shot
+ 4 +2 +4
*
Gun Actions and Rates Gun Action Shots per Action 1 Shot and reload for n $t sho ss 1 Shor per Action SA 1 Shot per Action BA LA PA 1 or 2 Shots per Action. Firer's choice DA 1 , 2, or 3 Shots per Action. Firer's choice AL Variable number of Bursts' per Action FA AB 1 , 2, or 3 Bursts' per Action
y Robert N. Charrett and Paul R. Humt
&
Damage Capability The number of damage dice a round will do against the 3T if it penetrates, is Armor Value of a struck target, and t )r a bullet strike are based on the BDG. The Damage D calculated as follows: number of D10 of Damage equals dDG/'^ plus Damage Points equal BDG/lO. near "p.
2 a weapon for aut1 Aulofiie lnherer xracy normally accoroea rne weapon Dy 2 I Burs1 fired add 1 to the Inherent Accuracy For eat Malch Weapons I1 the Feature is used then Match Weapons add 3 to the normal Inherent Accuracy of Ihe weapon
In automatic fire, Bursts are fired rather than individual rounds as with other Gun Actions. The majority of weapons fire Bursts of 3 rounds each. Some of the new "super-automatic" gunsfireBursts of 6. See Autofire rules below for details
MISSILE SPECIAL EFFECTS TABLE D100 RESULT

1-20 N o special effect
21-30 Flesh wound: damage is adjusted to

Range 1 ita SHT 1 L : SNUB B SHT STD LNG XLNG Long Guns
io
FF
LNG
EXT
n
100
19')
2-3 320
only if the Armor Value on the target location is exceeded 31-45 Minor wound: 1 point of damage caused. supercwes any normal results. This effect GII a Critical Hit results in normal damage. 46-65 Normal damage and Stopping 66-75 As 46-65 plus a Daze effect (see Critical Hit Effect Explanations). 76-85 As 66-75 plus a Stun effect (see Critical Hit Effect Explantions) 86-95 As 76-85 plus s roll on the Critical Effect Table 96-00 As 86-95 but add 30 to the roll on thecritical Effects Table
IO00
!OOO
Au
STOPPING
500
)
t '1
Shotguns Slug Load Shot Load Full Choke Modified Choke

I
50
BCS Modifiers BDG Modifiers To use the Range Table, simply note the range to the target in meters on the combat display Locate the Range Step under which this figure fails on the Table This is the Range Step for that shot BASE BDG TABLE
C.-l
minus 2
minus 5
....,.-" ,-Oh
minus 25% minus 50%
* Unless weapon is specified as having another
The effect number for Stopping is equal to the Adjusted BDG (used to determine if a Special Effect would occur) or the Damage Potential for muscle powered missile weapons and Impalements divided by the Mass of the target. IF>l Knock back for 203 meters. A Deftness Ability Saving Throw is required to prevent being knocked down. Each two meters of knock back will drop a target one category for purposes of stopping forward motion. IF>5 As above but a Critical Saving Throw is required for the character to keep his feet. IF>lO As above but knock down is automatic. IF< 1 The % chance of getting a result as if the effect number were equal to 1 is the Adjusted BOG (used t o determine if Missile Special Effects would occur) divided b y the Mass of the target multiplied by 100.
barrel length
CRITICAL MISSES
FIREARMS, BLACK POWDER DlOO RESULT 1-10 Nn affect. . .- . .- -. .- - . 11-40 Primer flash. Primer is expended but the round is still good. 41-70 Main load is a dud. Primer and powderforroundare expended. Gun must be reloaded. 71-85 Cook-off. Appears to beadud round. It will gooff on the bookkeeping phase. There is a 50%chance of it going off if there is an attempt t o remove it before Action Phase 0. If it goes off, treat as if it were a chamber explosion as below. 86-95 Chamber explosion. Burst effect of BDG of the round/30, nearest. Burst effect minus the Durability of the weapon is the number of DlOs of Lethal Damage done to the character's Location that is nearest to the breech of the gun. If the number of DlOs is less than 1 , reduce the Durability of the gun by 1 and treat as if the main load was a dud. If the number is greater than or equal to 1 (the chamber actually doesexplode). thegun is Disrepaired with a chance (equal to the number of DlOs) in 6 of it being Junked. 96-00 Chamber explosion as above but burst effect is BDG of the round/20. nearest.
CENTERFIRE PISTOL AMMUNITION Caliber BDG 22 Jet 4 8 221 Fireball 25 ACP (6 35mm) 1 256Magnum 10 30 (765mm) 6 32 Short 2 32 Long 32 ACP 32-20 3 11 357 Magnum 9mm Parabellum 5 9mm Short 2 38Long 5 38 Special 10 38 Short 380 ACP 38 SuperAuto 38-40 41 Magnum 44 Special 44 Magnum 44-40 45LongColt 45 ACP 11 RIMFIRE AMMUNlTlOL
22 Short 22 Auto 22 Long Rifle 22 Stinger 22 Long 22RF Magnum 5mm Magnum
2 4 6 2 6 5
CENTERFIRE LONG GUN SHOT SHELL AMMUNITION AMMUNITION Shot Shotgun Caliber BDG Size Gauge 10 12 16 20 ,410 222 Jet 8 6 222 13 4 2 20 10 223 (5 56m11) 8 6 14 222 Magnum 16 22-250 18 243 21 6mm 24 22 18 18 18 4-3 Buck 25-06 25 28 24 22 20 2-1 Buck 1 6 25-20 36 32 30 x 00 Buck X 25-35 15 250 18 Slug X 7 23 17 X 20 256 Magnum * These are very fight. small shot pellets. often rererred to a: 257 18 "birdshot." Ony any target massing over 2 Enc, they do E 6 5mm Magnum 25 type damage (half lethal. half subdual). 264 Magnum 31 * * Again. these are fairly light loads. At any range beyond 270 28 SHT. they also do B damage. 280 28 284 28 x Indicates that no Shot Shell of that type is made for the 7mm Mauser 25 Gauge in question. 7mm Magnum 36 Note that certain rounds appear on both the Centerfire 12 30 Carbine Pistol and Centerfire Long Gun Tables. The are: 22 Jet, 30-30 21 32-20, 38-40, 44-40. and 44 Magnum. These are identical 30-06 26 rounds. but are widely popular both as Pistol and as Long 24 30-40 Krag Gun loads. They are entered on each Table for easy 300 Magnum 38 1 reference. Some Players may favor usino 303 23 weapons which all chamber the same 308 (7.62mm NATO: 27 Caliber BDG caliber. as such standardization can 32 Special 21 375 45 offset some of the problems in maintain17 358 32 28 ing an ammo supply 32-30 6 38-40 8 The Encumbrance of cartridges is also 8mm Mauser 25 44 Magnum 42 8mmMagnum 40 444 Marlin 36 based o n their Caliber All Pistol ammo of 30 0: less, and all Rimflre ammo, has an 338 Magnum 41 44-40 12 ENC value Of 01 Other Pistol ammo (32 35 20 45-70 GOVt 16 35 458 Magnum, 51 Caliber or larger). Long Gun Ammo, and 350 Magnum 351 15 460Magnum 81 Shot Shell, has an ENC value of 02
41-70 71-85 86-95

96-00
Action to manually clear the round. Other types clear with the next round, no special action is necessary. Jammed round. Requires 2 Actions to clear manually. A weapon with an extractor will clear in 1 Action. Cook-off. See Black Powder firearms. Chamber explosion. Burst effect is BDG of the round/30, nearest. Chamber explosion. Burst effect of the round is BDGI20. nearest.
The sun hangs low on the horizon illuminating the ruins of civilization with a bloody light. Is it the sunset of the earth o r the sunrise of a brave new world? You can decide as you boldly stride the rubble strewn streets of the
The Game is for 2 to 6 players and a referee i n search of a different kind of adventure. It is a role-playing excursion into a post-holocaust world.
The Players create characters, designed by themselves, to face the challenges and dangers of life after things fall apart.
The Referee is provided with everything he needs to detail the world in which the players will adventure.
Aftermath! is not a game for the faint at heart. Ruined cities, dread diseases, despair and broken dreams are a part of the characters' daily lives. Still hope survives, for mankind still survives. Rise up, meet the challenge and overcome!
Aftermath! contains:
Basic Rules book with multiple examples and illustrations of play. Players' Handbook detailing construction o characters, equipment and life after the Ruin. f Referee's Handbook detailing construction o the f environment and running the game. Introductory Scenario to allow you t o start play easily.
Aftermath! provides a solid basic play mechanic that has been over2 years in playtesting. Rules are provided l o r m o d e r n firearms, NBC weapons a n d protections, mutations, survival, h i g h technology a n d more. T h e game is structured to allow the referee t o decide the nature of the holocaust that destroyed the w o r l d In w h i c h play will occur. Aftermath! is a step forward in the art of role-playing games.
P.O.BOX 1082
GILBERT, ARIZONA
85234
CREDITS
Game Design: Paul H u m e and B o b Charrette Illustrations and Graphics: B o b Charrette Typesetting: Liz Johnson, Dan Bress,
Mat Roswurrn, and G r y p h o n Graphics
Special Developmental Assistance: Jason Krause,

Bill Colbert, Charlie Crickenberger, Peter Adarns, James Polk, and Nick B u c h h o l z
Playtesters: Jason Rein, Sean Morris,

John McGuire, Uwe Behrrnann, Mike Johnson, T o m Johnson, Rich Altman, and all the others w h o put u p with us.
Special Thanks to Scott Bizar for having faith.
L
What I a Fantasy Role Playlng Game? s Forewqd Fantasy Role Playing Game Who's Who in the Role Playing Game The Gamesmaster Player Characters The Campaign Meet the Game Some Conventions used in the Text Reading the Rules
.................. 1 ............................. 2 ......................... 2 ........................ 2 ....................... 2 .... 3 .................... 3

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.. 1 ........................... 1 ............ 1 ... 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Defining the Character 4 4 Attributes Attribute Group Chart 4 Temporary Alteration af Attributes 4 Wit 5 Learning Rate 5 Detecting Hidden Things 5 Will 5 Strength 5 Weapon Damage 5 WeaponsUse 5 Deftness 6 6 Maximum Number of Actions 6 Speed 6 Base Action Phase Health 6 Healing Rate 6 6 Saving Throws 7 Talents 7 Psychological Profile The Basic Talents 7 Raw Talent Use 7 Special Talent Abilities 8 Additional Talent Benefits 8 8 Abilities 9 Freely Improvable Skills Damage ResistanceTotal 9 9 Combat Dodge Ability Phases Consumed in Action 9 9 Encumbrance Capacity Off-hand Dexterity 9 10 Physical Characteristics 10 Physical Aspects Chart Personal Encumbrance Chart 10 10 Recognition Factor Skills 11 Formats 11 11 Basic Chance of Success 11 Effect Numbers Averaging Skills 12 12 Raw Talent VersusTrained Skill 12 Prerequisites to Skills Combat Skills 12 Positioning Due to Skills Use 12 Primary and Secondary Attacks 12 WeaponsDefenseAbilityin Combat 13 Aim with a Combat Skill 13 14 Control Throws During Combat The Thrust in Combat 14 Encumbrance 14 Encumbrance Value Chart .......... 14 Distribution of Encumbrance 14 Encumbrance Status 15 15 Access to Stored Items 16 Personal Mass 16 Location and Armor 16 Bipedal Hit Location Map Quadrupedal Hit Location Map 16 Enhanced Armor Values (Option) 16 Armor Formats 17 17 Reinforcing Armor 17 Leather and Hides as Armor 17 Improvising Armor Materials 17 Use of Armor to Prevent Damage Average Armor Value 17 Destruction of Armor (Option) 17
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... .......... ... ........... ....................... ....... ............... ............. ..................... .................. ........... ..... ... .................... ................. ........ ........
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Time and Movement 18 Strategic Time Scale 18 Tactical Time Scale 18 Detailed Action Time Scale 18 Real Time Scale 18 Down Time Scale 18 19 Combining Time Scales Movement i n Tactical or Strategic Time19 Movement Modifiers Chart 19 19 Forced March 19 The Fast March The Long March ................... 19 Detalled Action Time 20 20 Effects of Pre-emption and Surprise The Detailed Action Time Display 21 21 The Character on the DAT Display Position on the DAT Display' Modification 'Table 22 Restrictions and Distractions 22 23 Movement Continuity of Motion 24 24 Stopping Forward Motion 24 Stopping Forward Motion Table 24 Charging Movement Through Occupied Hexes 24 Treacherous Ground and Movement 24 25 Climbing in Detailed Action Time Climbing Movement Table 25 25 Entering the Zone of Influence Engaged Status 25 25 Performing Actions Simple Actions 26 26 The Last Shot Option Firing While Moving 26 Communication in DAT 26 27 Combat Procedure Conducting an Attack .............. 27 Situational Modifiers 27 Situation Modifier Table 27 The "Hopeless" Attack 27 27 Adjusted BCS Equal to 1 Adjusted BCS Greater than 1 27 27 Results of a Hit Hit Location Tables .............. 28 Damage Potential 29 Damage Done 29 29 System Shock Types of Damage .................. 29 29 Impalement Missile Special Effects 29 Missile Special EffectsTable ...... 29 Stopping 29 30 Critical Hits Critical Hit Enhancement Tables 30 Critical Misses 30 Critical Miss Effects Tables ...... 30 General Notes on Combat Procedure 31 "The Clash of Weapons" (Option) 31 31 Bashing ............................. 31 Special Effect (Option) Deliberate Knock Down 31 32 Grappling 32 Falls in Detailed Action Time Effects of Water on Movement and 32 Combat 33 On the Water 33 In the Water 33 Going Under .................... Floating ......................... 33 33 Under the Water 34 Other Notes on Water Combat on a Moving Vehicle 34 The Character and His Mount 34 34 TheHorse Horse and Rider in DAT Display 34 Mounted Movement Through an Occupied Hex 35
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...
... ........ ...... .................... ................ .................. .............. ................ .............. ................... ............... .......... ............. ........... ....... .................... .................. ..................... ..................... ....................... ............. .......................... ....................... .
............. 35 .................. 35 Damage. Health and Healing ............ 36 Healing Damage ..................... 36 Modifications to Healing Rate ...... 36 Immediate First Aid ................ 37 Restoration of Lost Attribute Points . 37 Restoring a Character t o Consciousness .................. 37 Infection .......................... 37 37 Diseases .......................... Disease Symptons ............... 38 Dealing with Disease ............. 39 Crisis Point of the Disease ........ 39 Doctors and Disease ............. 39 Antibiotics and Disease .......... 40 Recovery from Disease ........... 40 Immunity from Disease (Option) . 41 Poisons ........................... 41 Effects of Poisons ................ 41 41 Lethal ......................... 41 Narcotic ...................... Depressant .................... 41 Treatment of Poisoning .......... 42 Encoding a Poison ............... 42 Character Improvement ................ 43 43 Improving Skills ..................... Learning-by-Doing .................. 43 Study and Skill Improvement ......... 44 Table of Learning Rate Modifications 44 Initial Score in New Skill (Option) ..... 44 Improvement of Attributes Through Learning (Option) ................. 44 Increase of TalentsThrough Learning (Option) .......................... 44 Improving Attribute Scores ........... 45 Effects of Age on Attributes ........... 45 Improving Off-hand Dexterity ......... 45 Quantifying the Environment ........... 46 46 Barriers ............................. Barrier Factor of Materials Table .... 46 Doors and Locks ................... 46 Tools and Their Use ................ 47 Sample Locking Mechanisms ....... 47 Fire and its Effects ................... 47 Fire and Armor Materials ........... 48 Fire and Barriers ................... 48 Smoke and its Effects .............. 48 Acid and its Effects .................. 48 Acid Special Effects Table .......... 49 49 Splashing Results ....................
Jumping on Horseback Unseating a Rider
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... ............. ............ ........................... .......... ........................... ...................... .......................
50 O n Being a Player ...................... Read the Game 50 Being Born .......................... 50 Growing U p 50 Getting Your Head On ................ 51 51 Being a Hero
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................... .............. ......... ......... ......................... .... ...................
......................... ........................ O n Being a Gamesmaster .............. 52 52 Before Play .......................... Reading it ......................... 52 Planning the Campaign ............ 52 The Scenario ...................... 53 During Play ......................... 53 Enjoying Things ................... 53 Running the Session ............... 54 The Other Guys (or Girls) .......... 54 AfterPlay ........................... 54 Keeping Your Balance .............54 It's a Big. Wide. Wonderful World ... 55
Housecleaning .................... L'Envoi ............................. 55 55
: Appendix 1 Reaction Table ............. 56 Appendix 2 Combat Procedure Flowchart 57
WHAT IS A FANTASY ROLE PLAYING GAME?

FOREWORD
You are reading the introduction to a rulebook for something called a Fantasy Role Playing Game. If you have never been involved in one of these Games before, it can seem confusing at first. The various rule books, the charts, maps, funny dice, just what are they for? How do you play this dumb game, anyway??? Role Playing Games are very different from almost every other type of game in the world. What we are going to examine here are the basics of how they are set up, played, and so on. In the rest of this book are articles giving more specific guidelines on how to play a Role Playing Game, with detailed illustrations of how the rules are applied. GAME: The fantasy of the role playing has limits placed upon it, and thus we define the last term in Fantasy Role Playing Game. It is a Game, with rules governing what players (or their characters) can and cannot do. The rules give the methods for deciding how successful a Character is when he fights, or attempts to be acrobatic, or does anything requiring a particular amount of skill or knowledge. They give the values by which a player knows how strong his character is, or how smart. Rules also deal with Things: weapons, armor, tools, magical items or scientific wonders, vehicles - how they work in the game. For these Games are modelled on a particular sort of reality. and thus all the devices and ideas one is likely to meet in that reality should be handled in the rules, so that players know what they can d o with them. The person who decides what will happen in the Game, according to the rules and his own imagination, is called a Gamesmaster. Every Role Playing Game will have at least one of these individuals running it, for reasons set forth throughout these books.
FANTASY ROLE PLAYING GAME

First off, what do we mean by Fantasy Role Playing Game? Well, takenseparately, the words themselves give us a clear picture of the terms meaning. FANTASY: This implies that the Game deals with a world of high adventure, of heroes and villains, danger and treasure, brave warriors or explorers, cunning scientists, battle, victory and life, or the dusty death of defeat. The dull and workaday world, even on the cutthroat level of high finance or armies at war, is left behind. In a Fantasy Game, we are concerned with the individual hero, in an evnironment where great deeds must be performed daily. Among the scores of Role Playing Games now on the market, rules can be found for Games set in milieus such as Sword and Sorcery adventure, interstellar travel and exploration, wild west shoot-em-ups, the France of the Three Musketeers, Samurai Japan, and worlds that never have existed outside of the dreams of their designers. Almost any adventure setting desired can be found in a Role Playing Game somewhere. This broad scope is the reason the Role Playing Game hobby has grown so, since its inception some 10 years ago: it allows the players to actively take part in their fondest fictional adventures almost as if they were characters in their favorite book or film. ROLE PLAYING: To be a player in a Role Playing Game, one plays a part just as an actor would. One has chosen a role in the Game-world and will operate in that environment as i f he were really the character involved! This is the central concept in Role Playing Games-the Players do not move pieces around a game board, but react in the Game by describing and/or acting out the actions that thecharacters they control are performing. In turn, everything that happens in the Game is described as if it were really happening! If, in the course of exploring a cave, the Characters find a dragon, Players are told this as if their eyes were actually beholding the beast. There is a lot to say about the identification of the player (Joe Smith, gamer, who is playing this Game) and his Character (Roald the Bold, a brave warrior/wise magician/intrepid spaceman/vicious killedetc.). Roald is a unique individual, with his own strengths and weaknesses, areas of expertise or ignorance, dreams, fears, and motivations. When Joe is playing, he must try to react to every situation as if he were Roald. We will be discussing the very special relationship between a player and his character in a later article in this book (On Being a Player, p.50).
So we have a definition of a Fantasy Role Playing Gameas a Game, having definite rules and structure, setting up an atmosphere of high adventure in a fantasy world, where players control single characters by playing Out roles as those characters. That is the thumbnail view. Just how are people involved in this process? Read on.
WHOS WHO IN T H E ROLE PLAYING GAME?

There are several individuals involved in playing a Role Playing Game. Some are real (i.e. inhabitants of 20th Century Earth, having existence outside the Game), while others are not or at least do not exist outside the Game world.
THE GAMESMASTER
We have referred to this person before. Every Role Playing Game must have a Gamesmaster, also known as a Referee, Judge, etc. We will call him the Gamesmaster from now on. In the last section, it was remarked that everything that happens in the Game is described to the Players as if it were really happening to them. Aha! Who do you think does the describing? Right-the Gamesmaster. Using the rules and a series of maps, notes, charts, and scenarios of his own design, the Gamesmaster is the one who lays out the Game before it is played. He is responsible for setting up everything that the Characters will encounter while playing, either in advance with loving detail, or at random during the course of play. When something develops in the course of the Game that the players should not know about, the Gamesmaster operates to keep it that way. As for Role Playing, consider this: players need only act the parts of their individual characters. The Gamesmaster plays the role of every other being encountered in the Game. Some of these are not even human! In a typical, fast paced evening playing a Sword-and-Sorcery based Game, the Gamesmaster may be playing a wandering knight one moment and a raging dragon the next! The job of Gamesmaster is so important to Role Playing Games that a
separate article later in this book will go into the concept of being a Gamesmaster in detail. (On Being a Gamesmaster, p. 52).
PLAYER
As is already obvious, players are the flesh and blood people who sit around and play a Role Playing Game. They are able to participate in the Game by pretending to be, and controlling the actions of, one or more Characters, individuals who live in the World where the Game takes place. A player has designed a Character for himself, sometimes using random numbers and sometimes allocating an assigned number of points, to develop a clear model of what this alter ego is like. The physical and mental ability of the Character, what skills he will have studied and how much time he has given to each of them, all of these are under the players control. When the character is actively adventuring in the Game, the player will decide when he fights and when he flees, and is, usually, in full control of the characters actions for better or worse. So it is up to the player to know how the rules work for those things he has designed his character to do (combat, magic, medicine, whatever). It is also best if the player can think with the characters head. This means, look at a situation in the Game and react properly for the Character according to his personality and cultural background. A character who has dedicated himself to one set of ideals will hardly act in a way contrary to those beliefs just because the situation offers some benefit for so doing. A crude peasant is unlikely to leave behind a purse of gold in order to retrieve a rare artwork from a treasure trove. The player should work out the behavior pattern for a character and keep to it as much as possible.
and reward that exist there, the laws, customs, religion, and all the factors that go into the fully designed Campaign to give it a feeling or reality that makes for enjoyable play. Some Campaigns are small in scope, perhaps limited to a single piece of territory with a base for Characters to operate from as they carry out raids on some huge maze-like place of danger and treasure. Other campaigns cover whole continents, or planets. Some (and this is not limited to science fiction Games by any means) comprise many worlds in the Campaign-universe. The size and complexity of a Campaign is limited only by the imagination and energy of the Gamesmaster and the desire of the players for new worlds to explore. The Game, as such, is the rules package, the system for playing. It is the Campaign that is actually enjoyed by the group, a never-ending story of heroic adventure. The books you have in your hands are written to allow you to join in those epics. The only thing ittakesissomeofyourtimeanda lot of your imagination. We hope you will enjoy playing this Game, in your unique Campaign, as much as we have enjoyed writing it for you.
MEET THE GAME

In this Game you will find the following components: The rulesbooks, one of which you are reading now. They should be read carefully. Players (unless they arealso acting as Gamesmaster in another campaign) should not read books specified as for the Gamesmaster. The Gamesmaster should, however, read all the material herein. The information in each book is laid out to cover the main areas which make the Game special: cultural data, social institutions of the Campaign world, special skills in the Game, etc. There are also separate charts for quick reference on things like combat and weapons, general rules, etc. 0 An introductory scenario, a fully designed adventure, taking place in one possible type of Campaign setting. This is provided to give the Gamesmaster an example of how to set up a scenario, and to allow play to begin sooner, if the Gamesmaster and players are anxious to get going. Again, players should not read the scenario package. If they know everything that is going to happen before they start to play, the whole atmosphere of the Game will suffer.
CHARACTERS
Unlike the Gamesmaster and players, characters do not really exist. Any entity (man, manlike being, intelligent creature, animal, self-aware computer, spirit, you-name-it) that takes an active part in the Game is a character. Those designed by or under the control of a player are called Player Characters. All the rest, usually under the control of the Games master, are called Non- PIayer-C haract e rs , Taken all together, the Characters make up the cast of this great big dramatic event called a Role Playing Game. Some will be heroic, champions of good, saving damsels, distressed communities, etc., as a matter of course. Others will be villains, dealing in destruction and casual death. Most will be a combination of both, as different conditions arise in play.
THE DICE
This game uses two kinds of dice as detailed below. Such dice should be available in your local gaming store or can be ordered direct from Fantasy Games Unlimited.
TYPES OF DICE 6-Sided Die: Called a D6. This is an everyday cubical die, numbered from 1 to 6.
THE CAMPAIGN
A Campaign is the particular version of a Role Playing Game as it is played by a given Gamesmaster and group of players. No two sets of garners will play in exactly the same way. Characters, especially Player Characters, are all different, and the adventures designed by one Gamesmaster will rarely resemble those set up by another. It often amazes new gamerson the Role Playing scene that the same Game, identical rules, same setting, can be played in so many different ways. But this is part of that tremendous flexibility mentioned before, the ability of a good Role Playing Game to allow the participants to fulfil their special fantasy. Of course, the main thrust in a Campaign is designed by the Gamesmaster. Using the rules, he will be the one to decide on the political climate of the countries in the Gameworld, the locations of those mysterious sites where much adventure is to be found, as well as the specific kinds of risk
20-Sided Die: Called a D20. It is numbered from 1 to 10 (or 1 to 20) and can be used for many types of die rolls. All the dice rolling called for in a Role Playing Game can be very confusing for new garners. Consider this: no matter how detailed the set-up for a given action by the character may be, eventually the question must be answered, Did he succeed? In our Games (and most others) this is determined by calculating a chance of success expressed as a number, and then rolling a die. If the score from the die roll is such that the rules say it means success (based on the calculated number) then all goes well. If it falls into the range ascribed to failure by the rules, then whatever was being tried did not work. See the definition of Basic Chance of Success on p. 11. Many different ranges of numbers are used for determing probabilities in this Game.The die rolls used are always expressed as follows:
2
xDy In this expression the x stands for the number of dice thrown. The y stands for the type of dice used. 306 means you should roll three6-sided dice, and total their scores to get your result. xDy+z means that the number z should be added to the total of xDy to get the resuIt. These rules will sometimes call for odd types of dice to be rolled, such as D3, D10, D20, and D100. All these can be generated by using a 6-sided and a 20-sided die, as follows:
0
SOME CONVENTIONS USED IN THE TEXT

Often in the text, the formula for calculating some number will be followed by (up), (down) or (nearest). This means that the result obtained should be rounded, respectively, up to, down to, or to the nearest whole number. Some rules will be identified by the word OPTION in the heading of the section. These rules are not necessary to the play of the game. Some are intended to provide greater detail or more realism to the game; others simply allow variety in the way certain game situations can be handled. The players and the Gamesmaster should agree on which options will be used in their campaign. Although the masculine pronoun is used in the general text, it is not intended to indicate the characters are assumed or required to be male.
03: Roll a D6. Divide the number rolled in half, rounding fractions up. This gives a result from 1 to 3. D6: Roll a D6. D10: Roll a D20. Read a 0result as 10. D20: Roll a 020. To get a result from 1 to 20, you will need to distinguish between the lower range (1-10) and the upper (11-20). One way is to color one set of faces of the die (0-9) different from the other (so that, for instance, a red 3 would be read as a 3, and a black 3 would be read as 13). Another way is to roll a control die (D6) with the D20. A result of 1-3 on the control die puts the D20 roll in the lowers range; a result of 4-6 puts it in the upper range.
READING THE RULES

When reading these rules, you should not try to absorb everything at once. Skim the rules once to get a general idea of the system. Then read them thoroughly. It is not necessary to be fully conversant with all the details in order to start to play. Diseases and poisons, for example, might not come into play for many game sessions. Players should remember to avoid any section of the rules or game components not labelled as being for the players use. You will spoil your own fun and that of the other players if you read the material that is intended forthe Gamesmaster. Gamesmasters are advised to be familiar with the sections of the rules that cover the things that they have planned for the current adventure. Careful planning of adventures will allow the Gamesmaster to introduce various portions of the rules gradually, as play progresses. This will allow you as Gamesmaster to familiarize yourself with the details of each section. It will also allow you to begin play more quickly. As you read through these rules, dont be upset if a term is presented without immediate explanation. The game mechanics are interlocked in such a fashion that sometimes a term must be used prior to the section in which it is fully explained. Dont worry-it will eventually be explained. Also, dont be put off by our extensive use of abbreviations and acronyms. As you become familiar with the system, they will become second nature.
D30: Roll a D20 and a control die. If the control die is a 12, the 020 result is read as 1-10; if the control die is 3-4, the 020 result is read as 11-20; if the control die is5-6, the 020 result is read as 21-30. D100: Roll two D20, to get a result of 1-100. Multiply the roll of one D20 by 10, and add to it the roll of the second D20 to get your result. Read a result of 00as100. D20s of different colors are very helpful for this. The DlOO is a very important type of roll. With DlOO (percentage) rolls, you can easily determine probabilities that may not be specified in the rules. If you feel there is a 60% chance of something happening, roll D100. A result of 60 or less means it happens. A higher result means it does not.
We will go into dice in more detail later on in this book and in the others. One important thing to keep in mind:
A die roll made to see if something happens means it did occur if the result is less than or equal to the needed number. A result greater than the needed number means it did not occur. If dice are not available, an ordinary deck of cards and a little ingenuity can be used to generate the various random numbers used in the game.
Good Gaming!
3
DEFINING THE CHARACTER

In order to determine just what acharactercan and cannot do, and how good he is at doing it, the character will be endowed with certain Attributes, Talents, Abilities and Skills. The character will also possess quantified Physical Characteristics. These values allow the Gamesmaster to arbitrate game situations easily and consistently. All characters have the same Attributes and Talents, but each character will have his own personal scores in each category. A characters Abilities are derived from his Attributes and, in some cases, from his Talents. Choice of a characters Skills is, for the most part, leftto the player. Initial scores in these Skills are based on the characters Attributes and Talents. A characters numerical ratings in the above mentioned categories will be used to determine his success of failure when he attempts some action. The rating represents a number which the player, rolling the appropriate dice forthe situation, must roll less than or equal to in order for his character to succeed. This basic number may be modified by the situation, in which case it is the modified number to which the dice roll is compared. A characters Physical Characteristics are used primarily to add color to the character. If a player already knows what his character looks like, and it is agreeable to the Gamesmaster, he may choose ratings which fit his character as he conceives him. All these ratings are entered on the Character Record Sheet (CRS) and kept handy for reference during play. This helps both the players and the Gamesmaster; the players have a better idea of their chances of success, and they can supply the Gamesmaster with the numbers he needs to determine the results of actions as they occur. We recommend that entries on the CRS be made in pencil, since values may alter during the course of play. When creating a character, a player will receive a certain number of points to allocate among the characters Attributes. He may distribute them among the six Attributes as he likes, so long as the character has no rating less then 1 or greaterthan40 in any Attribute.Heshouldthenenterthese ratings on his Character Record Sheet, in the Allocated column of the Attributes section. As play proceeds, a character may improve the initial ratings of his Attributes, or suffer permanent Attribute losses. When this occurs, the player should enter the new rating in the Permanent column of the Attributes section. Otherwise, the Permanent is the same as the Allocated rating. For details on improving Attributes, see Character Improvement, p. 43. During play, a character may experience a temporary alteration of an Attribute rating. The new, temporary rating should be entered on the Character Record-Sheet, in the Effective column of the Attribute section. Otherwise, the Effective rating is the same as the Permanent rating. If any ratings were loweied by wounds, disease or other damage, the player can see how many points must be healed to restore his characters ratings to Permanent level. See Healing Attributes on page 37. Ranges of Attribute ratings are arranged in Groups, as listed below. The Effect Die noted for each Group represents the effectiveness of proper application by a character of a Skill governed by that Attribute. Attribute Groups are also used to calculate other values relating to characters. These will be dealt with as they arise.
TEMPORARY ALTERATION OF ATTRIBUTES

Various situations that may arise in play call fortemporary reductions, expressed in percentages, of a characters Attributes. This may be due to wounds, encumbrance, poisons, drugs or many other factors. Such reductions are usually made in two steps: 25 percent and 50 percent. Subtract the required percentage from the characters current Effective rating in the Attribute, to get the new Effective rating. When a character moves from astateof lesser reduction to a greater reduction, the procedure is somewhat different. Subtract the lesser percentage from the greater percentage, and use the result as a percentage reduction. For example, a character who is Wounded (25% reduction of Deftness and Speed Attributes) becomes Seriously Wounded (50% reduction of both Attributes). In this case subtract 25% (50%-25%) from the current (Wounded) Attribute rating to obtain the new Effective rating. Of course, if an unwounded character becomes Seriously Wounded in one step, simply apply the 50% reduction. If a reduction in Basic Chance of Success (BCS) is to be applied to a character who has already suffered some reduction in BCS, apply the new reduction directly. Various categories of situations which can came temporary alterations of Attribute ratings are treated
ATTRIBUTES
Attributes are the basic mental and physical .components that make up the character. They define such things as how hard he hits, how fast he runs, how well he retains what he learns, how well he resists disease, and many other things. These rules use six Attributes: Wit (WT), Will (WL), Strength (STR), Deftness (DFT), Speed (SPD) and Health (HLH). The first two are Mental Attributes; the last four are Physical Attributes. Normal human ratings range from 1 to40. A character with a rating of 1 in an Attribute is severely handicapped in the areas that Attribute governs. With a rating of 40 he is, in that regard, a peak specimen of human development. The mythical average man would have a score of 10 to 12. A character with a rating less than 1 in an Attribute is totally non-functional in that area. A rating greater than 40 is not possible for a human without mechanical, cheinical or supernatural aid.
ATTRIBUTE GROUP CHART

Attribute Rating 0 Group N u m b e r 0 Effect D i e none
1-4 1 1D3
5-14
2
1D6
15-24 3 1D10
25-34 4 2D6
35-44
5
2D10
45-54 55-64 65-74 6 7 8 2D10+1 2D10+2 2D10+2
independently. Within a given category, followtheguidelines noted above. Details are given later in the rules.
meant that none of the characters could have discovered the hidden compartment.
WIT
The Wit Attribute is not a measure of the characters intelligence. The native intelligence of a character depends on that of the player. The player may decide that his character is smart of dumb, as he likes. Wit, however, has an important effect on the characters ability t o learn. Wit is also a measure of the characters ability to discover Hidden Things and, in general, to observe and interpret things that are out of the ordinary.
WILL
Will is a measure of the strength of a characters mind. This includes the characters drive and determination, and the strength of mental resistence his mind is capable of putting up. Things that can attack the Will of a character include the strange mental powers of mutants, magical powers, and the mind-numbing effects of certain chemical compounds. In general, Will can be regarded as the Mental equivalent of the Health Attribute.
LEARNING RATE A characters Learning Rate is the base used t o determine

how much he may add t o a Skill rating as a result of a learning session. Learning Rate is equal to the characters Wit Group. The specifics of learning are dealt with under Character Improvement, page43. DETECTING HIDDEN THINGS When there is a Hidden Thing to discover, the Gamesmaster secretly rolls 1D20 and asks the players whose characters are in a position to discover the Hidden Thing for their Critical Saving Throw scores. The Gamesmaster may modify the score needed bya number related to thedifficulty of discovering the Hidden Thing. Any character whose modified score equals or exceeds the Gamesmasters die roll will have spotted the Hidden Thing. The Gamesmaster can then inform those players of what they have found and they may or may not have their characters reveal this knowledge to other characters who are present. The die roll is made secretly so that the players will remain uncertain: is there nothing there, or is there something they failed to discover? The Gamesmaster should go through this procedure as a deception, at least as often as he uses it for actual Hidden Things. If the secret die roll is a20, the Gamesmastershould inform some or all of the players of the discovery of a false Hidden Thing. The Gamesmaster is urged to be creative, and have fun, when his players discover things that are not there. The adventurers (Characters) are exploring a ruined castle and havegatheredin what wasonce the study. The players decide to have their characters search the room for hidden compartments (there actually is one to be found, as the Gamesmaster knows). The Gamesmaster rolls 1020, with a result of 20. Thinking quickly, he picks the number 3, and asks the players i f any of their characters have a Wit Critical Saving Throw of 3 or higher. Several do (as the Gamesmaster already knew). He informs those players that their characters have discovered signs of a hidden compartment i n a desk. The players are now set up; they will probably waste quite a bit of time trying to force entry into the hidden compartment. The Gamesmaster may let them try everything they can think of, until they give up in disgust; or he may allow an arbitrary length of time to pass-say five minutes-then tell the players they were wrong. Undaunted, the characters continue to search the room. The Gamesmaster again rolls 1020. This time the result is a 5. One of the characters has a Wit Critical Saving Throw of 5, and discovers an actual hidden compartment in a bookcase. Since the character with the Wit Critical Saving Throw of 5 had the highest Wit rating of the characters present, a secret die roll of6 by the Gamesmaster would have
STRENGTH
Strength is a measure of the sheer physical power of the character. This Attribute is particularly important in determining with how much force he can wield a hand-held weapon. It also affects how much recoil from a gunpowder weapon he can sustain without suffering loss to his BCS in firing.
WEAPON DAMAGE
The characters Strength Group will determine the Effect Die to be rolled (see chart, p. 4). Since weapons are treated as mechanical devices, the result of the Effect Die Roll will be multiplied by the weapons Damage Multiplier to yield the Damage Potential of the characters attack, if successful. Naturally, a character with a high Strength Group will tend to do more damage when he makes a successful attack.
WEAPONS USE
A characters Strength Group determines what kinds of weapons he may use when attacking with a Hand-to-Hand Combat Skill. All Hand-to-Hand weapons are rated by the Strength Group required to use them without difficulty. A character may freely use any Hand-to-Hand weapon rated equal to or less than hisstrength Group. A character may not use a weapon whose rating exceeds his Strength Group by2 or more. If a character uses a weapon with a rating 1 greater than his Strength Group, he must use the Effect Die listed for the Group 1 lower than his actual Group. If a weapon noted as a 1-1/2H(a hand-and-a-half type weapon) or 2H (a two-handed weapon) is used one-handed, its rating goes up by 1. That is, a character would need t o be in a Strength Group 1 higher to use such a weapon onehanded than he would to use it normally. When a character is using the Two Weapon Combat Skill, and the rating of one weapon exceeds, or that of both equals, his Strength Group, then the effective rating of each weapon is increased by 1. The penalties noted in the preceding two paragraphs are cumulative. Note that a character using the Two Weapon Combat Skill may find, due to cumulative increases in weapon ratings, that he is totally unable to use one weapon. Jo the Strong is a character with a Strength of 35. He is thus in Strength Group5, and his normal Effect Die will be 2010. He wishes to use a two-handed sword with a Strength Rating of 5. He may do so freely, if he wields it with two hands. I f he tries to swing i t one-handed, its effective Strength Rating is raised to 6. Jo can use i t this way, but his Effect Die will be that of Strength Group 4 or 206. I f Jos Strength were less than 31 he would be in a Strength Group lower than 5, and he would be completely unable to use the sword one-handed.
Sal of the Sharp Blade prefers to fight with a weapon in either hand. She has a Strength of 75, putting her in Strength Group 3. I f she tries to use two weapons, each with a Strength Rating of3, each weapons would have its effective Strength Rating raised to 4 . She would be able to wield them, but her Effect Die would be that of Strength Group 2 1 D6. I f she uses one weapon with a rating o f 3 and one with a rating of 2, she will incur n o penalties, and use her normal Effect Die, 1010. I f she foolishly trieds to use a 1-1f2H weapon with a rating of 3 in one hand and a weapon with a rating of 2 in the other, the latter will not be affected, but the former will have its rating increased by 1 for being used with one hand, and again increased b y 1 for being used with one hand, and again by 1 because i t then exceeds her Strength Group. This gives the weapon a rating of 5,2 greater than her Strength Group. She discovers that she cannot use the 1-1f2H weapon at all, when using the Two Weapon Combat Skill.
when the action to be attempted is very difficult. The number needed for a successful Saving Throw should be calculated for each Attribute, and entered on the Character Record Sheet. Saving Throw numbers are always calculated using the characters effective Attribute rating. Attribute Saving Throw (AST) equals Effective Attribute ratingM (down) Critical Saving Throw (CST) equals Effective Attribute rating/3 (nearest) Unless the rules specify otherwise (and even then, if he chooses) the choice of requiring an AST or a CST is left to the Gamesmaster. He should base his decision on the difficulty of the situation or the action attempted. On occasion, at the Gamesmasters discretion, modifiers can be added to or subtracted from the number needed for a successful Saving Throw. To determine if a Saving Throw is successful, the player must calculate the number needed, add or subtract any modifiers, and roll 1020. If the result is greater than the number needed, the character has failed his Saving Throw and must face the consequences. A die roll of 1 signifies greater success than was hoped for, and a roll of 20 signifies a disastrous failure. The exact results of such critical success or failure are left to the creativity of the Gamesmasrer. When characters are making Saving Throws in particularly stressful situations, the Gamesmaster may levy acharge in subdual points (see p. 29) for each attempt, whether or not it succeeds. This prevents characters from throwing themselves at locked doors all day-eventually they will batter themselves senseless, if the door is stronger than they can overcome, and even eventual success would have its price. A die roll of 20 would call for double subdual damage, or perhaps for a point of lethal damage in addition to the subdual damage. The Gamesmaster must decide whether to exact such penalties, and to what extent. Elsie Smith, survivor of the Ruin, is fleeing for her life through rubbled streets. She is desperate. The Gamesmaster tells Elsies player to make a Wit CST. The roll succeeds. The Gamesmaster announces that Elsie has spotted a fire escape in an alley. The player has Elsie move into the alley and make a jump for the ladder. The Gamesmaster requires a Deftness AST for Elsie to make a successful grab at it. Elsies player rolls a 1 on the 020. The Gamesmaster decides that Elsie has not only grabbed the ladder but has swung her body weight in such a way that the rusted ladder has come free and Elsie may climb i t on the next Combat Turn. I f non-critical success had been indicated by the die roll, the Gamesmaster might have required Elsies player to roll a Strength AST to unstick the rusty ladder. As Elsie climbs the fire escape, she hears the groan of tortured metal. The player, realizing rhat the lire escate may collapse, says that Elsie is hastening to find a way off the fire escape. Since the player recognized the danger, the Gamesmaster requires a Speed AST (rather than a CST) for Elsie to clear the collapsing fire escape. Again the die roll is in Elsies favor, and she enters the building just as the fire escape crashed down into a pile of twisted metal. Elsie lands in a heap as she leaps through the window. Dust billows about her as she rises in the deserted room. The Gamesmaster tells Elsies player to make a Health AST. Fearful that Elsie may
DEFTNESS
Deftness is a measure of a characters manual dexterity and reaction time. It is used to determine how often a character may act in a given situation, and whether he can complete a task requiring dexterity.
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ACTIONS The Maximum Number of Actions (MNA) refers to the
number of Actions (see Detailed Action Time, p 20) that the character may initiate and complete in a Combat Turn. Maximum Number of Actions = Deftness Group.
SPEED
Speed is a measure of a characters agility and rapidity of action. It is used to determine when a character may act in a given situation. Speed also determines the characters rate of travel.
BASE ACTION PHASE

The Base Action Phase is the first point in a Combat Turn in which a character may initiate an Action. The Base Action Phase (BAP) is equal to half the characters Speed (down).
HEALTH
Health is a measure of a characters constitution, resistence to disease and recuperative powers.
HEALING RATE
Healing Rate is the basic amount of damage, expressed in points, that a character can heal in a period of time. Applications of Healing Rate are explained in Damage, Health and Healing, p 36. Healing Rate equals Health Group.
SAVING THROWS
When a player wants his character to perform an action which lies in the province of an Attribute, or when the rules call for it, the Gamesmaster will ask the player to make a Saving Throw (ST). This may be an Attribute Saving Throw (AST) or a Critical Saving Throw (CST). The CST is used
have encountered a dangerous biological agent, the player makes the die roll. This time the result is greater than the success score for Elsies Saving Throw. The Gamesmaster thanks the player and asks for Elsies next actions. This request for a Saving Throw was a deception-there is no dangerous biological agent in the room. The Gamesmaster is following the Golden Rule: Keep em guessing. The players never feel entirely safe, never know when danger is lurking around the corner. Ignoring the clue (the unsound fire escape) to the less than perfect structural integrity of the building, Elsie enters the corridor outside the room and runs toward the stairwell. The Gamesmaster, having previously determined that the floor of this corridor would give way under a persons weight, announces that Elsie has fallen through. Since she had no warning, the Gamesmaster requires a Speed CST, and because she was moving at fullspeed, subtracts 2 from the score needed to succeed. Not surprisingly, the die roll indicates that Elsie failed to grab onto anything that could have arrested her fall. The Gamesmaster requires a Health AST for Elsie to remain conscious when she hits the floor below (adding 1 to the score needed, since she will land in a large pile of windblown leaves). Elsies luck takes a turn for the better; she is conscious. A quick check for damage done by the fall shows that Elsie has suffered 4 points of Subdual Damage, with no critical effects.
In keeping with his plans for the character, he o adds 13 points to Combative f raise it to t 1 1 , and 9 points t o Nautral to raise it to t17 as well. He adds the remaining point to Esthetic, raising it to 1. This will allow the character to Learn-by-doing with a Skill whose Governing Talent is Esthetic. Johns character, whom he now nicknames The Hunter, has some special abilities. Due to his Combative Talent score, he has an 1 1 % chance to gauge his opponents skill with a Weapon. He can also estimate compass direction with an 11% chance of success, because of his Natural Talent score. Because of the nature of the Combative Talent, The Hunter will have a base BCS of 2 (1 1 divided by 5, down) in any weapon form.
THE BASIC TALENTS

T h e seven basic Talents, and the general areas governed by each are: Charismatic: Basic persuasiveness, and the ability t o lead others. Combative: Aggressiveness, the will t o win, and raw fighting ability. Communicative: Facility with languages, and the general ability to communicate an idea. Esthetic: A p p r e c i a t i o n and performance of artistic endeavors. Mechanical: Affinity for technology and its products. Natural: Affinity for the natural environment. Scientific: C a p a c i t y f o r reasoned a n a l y s i s , preception of cause and effect.
OPTION
An alternate method for modifying difficulty: T h e Gamesmaster may assign a die with a greater or lesser range than 1 D20 to be used for the Saving Throw, instead of modifying the number needed for success. If he wishes t o increase difficulty, for example, he might require the Saving Throw t o be rolled on 1 D30 instead of 1 D20.
RAW TALENT USE

In the absence of acharactertrained in a required Skill, the Gamesmaster may allow the character with the highest score in that Skills Governing Talent to try to use the Skill. His score in the Governing Talent is used to determine his Basic Chance of Success (BCS). T h e BCS, of course, may be modified according to the difficulty of the situation. If the required Skill has a Prerequisite Skill in which the character has no score, then his Governing Talent score is effectively halved for purposes of computing the BCS. T h e Gamesmaster should require a character using raw Talent to perform a task t o use more game time than would a character using the appropriate Skill. If the character succeeds by using raw Talent, he is then able t o learn from it in the usual fashion. Situtations may arise in which the Gamesmaster decides that a required Saving Throw is more in the province of a Talent than of an Attribute. In such a case the player should roll 1020, a roll less than or equal to his characters score in the appropriate Talent indicating success. As usual, a roll of 20 denotes failure, even if the characters Talent score is 20. Quill, a medical technician, is trapped in a decompressing space station. All doors have been sealed, and he is on the wrong side of the door to the escape craft hanger. He has no electronic skills at all, and must short circuit the doors mechanism in order to escape. However, he does have a BCS of 18 in High Technology Use Skill, and a Mechanical Talent of 15. The Gamesmaster decrees that Quill can open the door if he makes both a successful roll for his High Technology Use Skill and a raw Talent roll using his Mechanical Talent. The player rolls 5 on 1020-Quill is halfway there. He has popped the panel over the wires and identified the ones he thinks control the door. The player now rolls 1020
TALENTS
Talents are a measure of the characters aptitude and raw ability in the areas specified. Talents can modify the characters Learning Rate and enable him to learn by the successful application of his Skills. For specifics on these functions, see Character Improvement, p. 43. A Talent has a maximum score of 20 and no minimum natural score. A score of less than 1 indicates that the character has no native aptitude at all in that area. A score greater than 10 indicates significant aptitude.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
Each character will have apsychologica1 profile when he is created. the method is detailed in Book 2. This profile gives the base starting values for the character in eachTalent. T h e player will then roll 2D6 + 15. The result isa numberof points which he may allocate among the variousTalents. N o initial score may be lowered in order to add points to another Talent. No final score may exceed 20. Any Talent score may be left at its initial value, even if that value is negative. John Smith, player, is creating a character. He wishes the character to be a fighter, who is at home in the outdoors. After determining his characters psychological profile, he finds that the characters Talent scores are. charismatic -2; Combative -2; Communicative + l ; Esthetic 0; Mechanical t l ; Natural +2; Scientific t1. John rolls 2 0 6 t 15. The roll is 8, so he has 23 points io allocate among his characters Talents.
against his raw Mechanical Talent. The result is 3, and he breathes a sigh of relief. But the Gamesmaster has decided that the attempt will cause Quill to be hit with 2 units of electricalcharge. As Quill crosses the wires, sparks fly and he is knocked back across the chamber. Fortunately, he was wearing insulated gloves, which eliminate one of the units of charge. The Gamesmaster checks for damage, rolling 4 on 1 D10. He tells the player that Quill has taken 4 points of Subdual Damage. Quill picks himself up, shakes his head to clear it, and bolts through the open door to the escape craft.
The Charismatic Talent interacts with three of the other Talents to yield a combination ability. These Talents are Communicative, Esthetic and Natural. The effects of the combination ability for each are listed below: Charismatic plus Communicative: T h e character, upon successfully communicating with the personage being swayed, will get him to react as desired. Note: This represents persuasive argument. It is not a form of mind control. A character could only be persuaded to suicide if he were already in a self-destructive frame of mind. Esthetic: T h e character, upon successfully performing with his artistic Skill, can implant simple ideas, emotions and sentiments in those who are affected by the artists work. Natural: The character is responsive to animals. He may calm or excite them and get them to do simple things within their limitations. Note: Thisdoes not allow the character to stop an animals attack once begun, although he might disuade it from attacking as long as none harm it. Also he can not communicate with animals as i f they h a d h u m a n intelligence.
SPECIAL TALENT ABILITIES

When a character has a Talent score greater than 10, he is assumed to have a Special Talent Ability related to that Talent. In general, his percentage chance to use the special ability is equal to his score in the Talent. Only one attempt to use a special ability may be made in any one situation. As usual, a die roll in the range 96-00 denotes failure, and probably an unexpected backfiring of the attempt. The special abilities associated with each Talent are: Charismatic: The character may add his Talent score divided by 5 (down) to NPC reaction rolls, provided he can communicate with the NPC he is trying to influence; or he may choose to subtract from the reaction roll. Note that this special ability does not require a D100 roll. Combative: The character may attempt to gauge his opponent-discover his opponents Skill score with the weapon he is using. He may make only one attempt per opponent. Communicative: The character may attempt to pick up the general sense of something spoken in a language he does not understand. Alternatively, he may attempt to convey a general concept to another character or NPC. Note that specific detail cannot be conveyed across a language barrier. Esthetic: T h e c h a r a c t e r may a t t e m p t t o compose on the spot. It must be in an artistic form that he knows-that is, he must have a score in theskill governing that form. Mechanical: The character may attempt to estimate the mechanical complexity of a technological artifact (e.g. a lock) or the structural soundness of a construct (e.g. a door). Natural: The character may attempt to use his sense of direction to estimate compass directions, or avoid becoming lost. Note that once a character has failed in such an attempt, he will be unable to do it successfully until he has reoriented himself by some indicator such as a compass, the sun or a familiar star field. Scientific: The character has an analytical ability with which he may attempt to solve conceptual problems such as codes and riddles. If a character qualifies for special abilities in more than one area he will receive all appropriate abilities. In addition, some Talents in combination yield additional abilities. The percent chance of success for these combination abilities is the average of the Talent scores in the areas in question. Remember that both of the Talents involved must have a score that exceeds 10.
ADDITIONAL TALENT BENEFITS

Some of the Talents have additional benefits. These are peculiar to the Talent involved and any character with a positive score receives such benefits. The specifics are listed below: Combative: The character may use his Talent score as a Skill score in any Combat Skill in which his score is less than his Talent score. From this a Basic Chance of Success may be calculated and to the Basic Chance modifications due to the situation and the weapons in use will be added. Note: This may not be used with averaging Combat Skills if at least oneof the scores to be averaged exceeds the Talent score. Mechanical: The character may substitute his Talent as a Basic Chance of Success for the Skill of Technology Use. This Skill is basic familiarity with tools, devices and simple machines. Scientific: The character may use his Talent score/5, down as a Basic Chance of Success modification, positive or negative at whim, when dealing with games of chance which involves shifting odds, such as card games.
ABILITIES
Each character has certain Abilities which are derived from a combination of his Attributes. They are aspects of quantifying the character before play begins. Once the values have been calculated, they should be entered in the proper place on the Character Record Sheet. Each of these Abilities will be introduced and explained below. If a characters Ability values should be altered in the middle of a turn in Detailed Action Time, the new values will not be applied until the bookkeeping phase of that turn.
a
FREELY IMPROVABLE SKILLS

A character may designate a number of Skills equal to the combined score of his current Wit and Will as Freely Improvable Skills. Whenever a character is studying a Skill which is not one of his designated Freely ImprovableSkills, he is suffering a Hindrance to learning which will reduce the number of points he may add t o his score as a result of that Study period. The Skills in which a character receives initial scores are not necessarily counted against this number. If the player doubles the initial score of a characters Skill, that Skill is a::slJmed to be one of the characters Freely tmprovable Skills. If more Skills than are allowed by the quota are doubled, the player may decide which are to be considered Freely Improvable Skills. Skills will be added to the characters quota as they are studied. It is not permissable, before the character has reached his quota, to claim a new Skill, or a Skill which the character improves for the first time, is not a Freely Improvable Skill. It is to be counted against the quota. All Freely Improvable Skills should be marked as such o n the Character Record Sheet by underlining, circling or some other method agreable to the players and the Gamesmaster. Should a characters Wit or Will change permanently, his Freely Improvable Skills quota will alter to reflect the new values. I f it goes up, the character will add the next Skills studied to the list of Freely Improvable Skills. If it goes down, the player may choose which Skills will no longer be c o n s i d e r e d Freely I m p r o v a b l e . S h o u l d his t o t a l subsequently go up, the character will regain those removed from the list before designating other Skills as Freely Improvable.
a character to perform a simple function. The specific applications of this value are dealt with in the section on Detailed Action Time on page 20. Phases Consumed in Action equals Base Action Phase/Maximum Number of Actions, down
ENCUMBRANCE CAPACITY
The Encumbrance Capacity (ENC CAP) is a measure of how much the character can wear, carry and use without getting in his own way. Acharacterwhose Encumbrancetotal is less than or equal to his CAPM, nearest is considered to be Unencumbered and receives no modifications. A character whose Encumbrance Total is greater than CAP/:! and less than or equal to (3 x ENC CAP)N nearest, is considered to be Partially Encumbered. This character will have his effective Deftness and Speed lowered by 25% and will suffer a Basic Chance of Success modification of -1 to all endeavors requiring physical exertion. A character whose Encumbrance Total is greater than (3 x ENCCAP)MisconsideredtobeFullyEncumbered. lnthis state, effective Deftness and Speed will be lowered by 50% and he will have a modification of -2 instead of -1 for physical endeavors. A character may not have an Encumbrance total that exceeds his Encumbrance Capacity. A character may lift up to 150% of his Encumbrance Capacity for a very short time only. A Strength Critical Saving Throw which is required to be made o n each Combat Turn is a good way of determining how long a character can lift such a weight. The Gamesmaster is urged to levy subdual points for actions of this kind. One point per turn for each 10% over the characters Encumbrance Capacity is a good scale. A character may shift, without lifting, an Encumbrance Total equal to twice his Encumbrance Capacity. It is suggested that this kind of action be subject to the same penalties and limitations as the rule for lifting above. The concepts of Encumbrance are dealt with in the section on page 14. Encumbrance Capacity equals 3 plus Strength Group plus Deftness Group These values are taken from the Permanent values of the characters Attributes.
DAMAGE RESISTANCE TOTAL

The Damage Resistance Total (DRT) of a character is equal to his Permanent Health plus YZ Permanent Strength plus lh Permanent Will. This is a measure of how much damage, inflicted upon him by chance or his enemies, he is able to take before he collapses. Damage done to the character is measured in points. Any points of damage the character receives are totaled together to give a current damage total. When the current total of damage points exceeds one half of the Damage Resistance Total, the character is considered Wounded. He will suffer a 25% loss to Deftness and Spesd. This will change the effective values of those two Attributes and alter such things as the characters Base Action Phase, Maximum number of Actions, Combat Dodge Ability and Phases Consumed in Action. Additionally, the character will suffer a -2 modification to all Basic Chances of Success. When the current total of damage points exceeds 75% of the Damage Resistance Total, the character is considered Seriously Wounded. He suffers a 50% loss to Deftness and Speed and suffers the attendant problems. He also receives a -4 modification to all Basic Chances of Success. These modifications remain in force until the character is healed of the damage taken. See Health and Healing on page 36.
OFF-HAND DEXTERITY
Characters are assumed to favor one hand with regard to manual dexterity. For convenience, the Gamesmaster may wish to assume that the characters favored hand is thesame as the players favored hand, unless the player specifies otherwise before the character enters play. All Skills using the hands will be assumed to be using the favored hand in their primary applications. Should the character be brought to the point where he must attempt to utilize such a Skill and his favored hand is disabled or absent, he will have to average his Basic Chance of Success in that Skill with his Off-hand Dexterity score. The Off-hand Dexterity score will never raise the Basic Chance of Success above the value the character would have is he were performing normally with the Skill. Off-hand Dexterity can be increased as detailed in the section on Character Improvement on page 43. The initial value is based on the characters Attributes and a random factor. This value is calculated from the Allocated Attribute scores and will not be affected by changing the Attribute scores. Off-hand Dexterity equals (Wit plus Will plus Deftness)/G, nearest plus 2D3 Kelson is left handed and has a Pistol Combat Skill with a BCS of 72. He has been wounded in the left arm and cannot use it. Groggily, he picks up his
COMBAT DODGE ABILITY

The Combat Dodge Ability (CDA) is the characters capacity to move his body out of harms way while in combat. This is his basic defense factor. It is subtracted from his opponents Basic Chance of Success. The base value of the Combat Dodge Ability is given below although the actual value may vary according to the situation. (See the Target Movement Rules in Book 2.) Combat Dodge Ability equals (Effective Deftness plus Effective Speed)/20, nearest
PHASES CONSUMED IN ACTION

This is a measure of how long, in relative terms, that it takes
pistol with his right hand. Fortunately, he has increased his Off-hand Dexterity to 17. Averaging his Pistol BCS and his Off-hand Dexterity score will yield 14.5. This is rounded down to 14. Since the Offhand Dexterity score cannot increase the BCS of the Skill being used, i t is reduced to 12 which happens to be his normal base BCS. I f Kelson's scores had been reversed (his Pistol BCS 17 and his Off-hand Dexterity score 12), averaging would have yielded 14.5 which would have been rounded to 14 to give the base BCS for using the pistol with his off-hand.
For Size, Bulk and Looks, roll separately using 1 D1OO.The resulting number and description from the Physical Aspects Chart should be recorded on the Character Record Sheet. The descriptions for Size and Bulk should be crossindexed on the Personal Encumbrance Table and the number found there entered as the character's Personal Encumbrance. The Physical Characteristics of Size and Bulk are important in determining if the Character can wear scrounged clothing or scavenged armor. The Personal Encumbrance is used in calculations for Bash attacks and other things where mass is important.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The quantification of the physical aspects of the character is on a completely random basis, unlike the Attributes, Talents and Abilities. As a result, any player who can present a convincing case to the Gamesmaster as to why the character he is playing should have certain specified statistics should be allowed to use those statistics rather than rolling randomly to determine them.
RECOGNITION FACTOR
The Recognition FaFtor is used by the Gamesmaster to determine if the Player Characters are recognized, for good or ill, by the Non-Player Characters with whom they interact. The Player Character's base factor is the sum of the Reconition factors he receives for Size, Bulk and Looks. This is modified by the Gamesmaster for such things asdistinctive clothing, identifying marks, reputation and whether the character announces his name.
I
D i e Roll (1D100) Size & Bulk
PHYSICAL ASPECTS CHART

Description Looks Recognition Value Equivalent Height Average Weight for Height
01 02-05 06-26 27-74 75-95 96-99 100
Very Low Low Below Average Average Above Average High Very High
Ugly Homely Mediocre Average Above Average Comely Handsome
3 2 1 0 1 2 3
under 5'4" 5'418-5'5" 5'6"-5'7" 5'8"-5'10" 5'1 1"-6' 6'1 "-6'2" over 6'2"
71-100 Ib. 101-120 Ib. 121-140 Ib. 141-160 Ib. 161-180 Ib. 181-200 Ib. 201-230 Ib.
To find weight for a character with non-average up or down Bulk move a n u m b e r o f s t e p s , as appropriate, equal to the Recognition value for Bulk.
PERSONAL ENCUMBRANCE CHART

BULK Very Low
3.0 3.1 3.3 3.5 3.7 3.9 4.0
SIZE
Very LOW Low Below Average Average Above Average High Very H i g h
Low
3.1 3.3 3.5 3.7 3.9 4.0 4.1
Below Average
3.3 3.5 3.7 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.3
Average
3.5 3.7 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.3 4.5
Above Average
3.7 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.3 4.5 4.7
High
3.9 4.0 4.1 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.9
Very High
4.0 4.1 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.9 5.0
OPTION
To Personal Encumbrance add (Strength -10) x .l.
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SKILLS
A major aspect in the quantification of the character is the concept of Skills. Functionsof importto the game that do not involve the simple exercise of body or mind by the character are governed by Skills. The Skill score is a quantification of the characters expertise and ability in a given area. The characters score in a Skill represents his basic competency in the area or areas covered by the Skill. This is hard-won, ingrained knowledge and is not to be gained from casual instruction or undisciplined study. If a character does not have the Skill required to perform a function, he is usually thrown back on his Talents or Attributes. These are a poor substitute for rigorously acquired expertise. Though a characters initial scores in the Skills with which he begins the game are based on appropriate Attributes and Talents, he can improve the scores by diligent study and significant, successful application of those Skills. Certain Skills cover things that anyone can do. This does not mean that a character who does not have a score in that Skill can not perform in that area. It does mean that when the situation is such that a character has difficulty performing in the area governed by the Skill, a character without a score in the Skill will almost certainly fail. For example, anyone can ride a horse, but a character who does not have a score in Beast Riding Skill will probably fall off if the horse gallops and will almost certainly fall off if the beast bucks. The very choice of initial Skills often defines the characters past and hischances in the future. In this fashion, the player may tailor his character t o suit whatever conceptions he has about that character. Skills, as presented in Book 2, are given in a particular format. The name of the Skill is followed by the calculation for the initial score. The first Attribute in the formula is the Governing Attribute and the first Talent is the Governing Talent. These come into play with regard to character improvement. If the Skill is a Combat Skill, the Positioning of a character using the Skill is placed in parentheses after the name of the Skill. The initial score formula is followed by a number indicating the Format of theskill. If theskill requires any prerequisite Skills, they are listed in parentheses under the Skill name. A description and pertinent rules concerning the Skill will follow.
Lockpicking Skill is a Format 1 Skill. The score ranges from 0 to 100. The BCS is the score divided by 5, rounded down. The Average BCS is the normal BCS divided by 2 rounded down. Stealth Skill is a Format 2 Skill. The score ranges from 0 to 100.The Skill has Rural and Urban areas of expertise. I f a characters principal area of expertise is Rural, his BCS when using Stealth Skill in a rural environment will be the score/5, down. When in a urban environment, the BCS will be the scorell0, down. The character may at any time elect to treat the Urban area as a separate Skill and any improvements to the score (which will start at one half the score in the principal area) will be separate. Once the areas are separated into Skills, they will become as Format 1 Skills except that the two Stealth Skills will only count as one Skill with regard to the characters Freely Improvable Skills. Single Weapon Combat Skill is a Format 3 Skill. The score range is from 1 to 200. The normal BCS for use o f the Skill is the score in the first 100 points divided by 5 and rounded down. The average BCS is total score divided by 10,rounded down. The BCS derived from the second 100 points in the Control Throw. The score in the 100 points divided by20 and rounded down is the number of contiguous Locations by which the target Location may be altered. This function is not allowed when an Average BCS is being used. Thus.a character with a Lockpicking Skillscore Of 48 has a BCS of 9.A character with a Stealth Skill score o f 48 and a principal area of Rural has a BCS of 9 in a rural environment and a BCS of 4 in an urban environment. A character with a Single Weapon Skill score of 148 has a BCS of 20, an Average BCS of 14, a Control Throw of 9 and a Location alteration of 2.
BASIC CHANCE OF SUCCESS

The Basic Chance of Success (BCS) is determined by dividing the characters score in the Skill to be used by 5 and rounding down. This will yield a number from 0 to 20. The number yielded by the calculation is considered the Base BCS. This will be modified by various factors to give the Adjusted BCS. It is this number that the player must roll less than or equal to on 1D20 in order for the character to be successful in using that Skill. When dealing with Format 3 Skills only the first 100 points generate the Basic Chance of Success to average with the Averaging Skill BCS for the modified BCS. The Control Throw BCS is also averaged in the same way. To determine the characters ability toaim, average his norrrral number of alterations to the Location with the score in the Averaging Skill divided by 20 and round down. As with normal averaging, this will not increase the characters aim ability. Averaging is always rounded down. The use of the Basic Chance of Success in combat isdealt with at length in the section on Detailed Action Time on page 20. From the rules players can see how the concept of BCS works and can extrapolate its use for situations not specifically covered. A player can be asked to make a BCS roll for his character when the character is attempting t o do something within the province of one of his Skills or when he is searching his memory for some piece of information relating to the field in which the Skill is used. EFFECT NUMBERS In order to gauge the results of an application of some Skills, an Effect Number is used. The Effect Number is the difference between the Basic Chance of Success die roll
FORMATS
Skills are presented in three basic formats. Most Skills are in the first format which is the simplest. All other non-combat Skills are in the second format. The third format is reserved for Combat Skills. Format 1: The values for the score in this format range from 0 to 100. Format 2: The principal values range from 0 to 100 but the Skill has a secondary area of expertise which has a value equal t o one half the principal score. This secondary area may be improved independently of the principal area. Once it is raised independently, it essentially becomes a separate Skill of format 1 and the principal area does the same. Format 3: This type of Skill acts as a format 1 Skill, but there is a second range of value beyond the score of 100. This range goes from 101-200. Score in the second range can not be accumulated until the score in the first range equals 100.
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result and the modified Basic Chance of Success. This number is then used in a way which will bespecified with the description of the Skill that uses an Effect Number.
AVERAGING SKILLS
Some Skills are designated as Averaging Skills. This means that a character attempting to utilize another Skill while operating in the province of an Averaging Skill will use a modified Basic Chance of Success. The scores that the character has in the Skill he is attempting to use and in the Averaging Skill are added together. They are then divided by 5 and rounded down to yield the modified BCS. This BCS may not exceed the normal BCS of the Skill that the character is attempting to use, although it may exceed the normal BCS of the Averaging Skill unless the Averaging Skill is a Combat Skill. When dealing with a Combat Skill as the Skill that the character is attempting to use, any BCS after averaging that exceeds 20 becomes the characters modified Control Throw. This will also affect his aim. A simple rule is that he will have 1 point of Location modification for each 4 points of modified Control Throw. Beast Riding Skill is designated as an Averaging Skill. This means that when a character wishes to use another Skill such as Single Weapon Combat while mounted on a horse, he must average his scores in Single Weapon Combat and Beast Riding Skills. Hawk Jensen has a score in Single Weapon Combat of 62 (BCS equals 12) and in Beast Riding of 94 (BCS equals 18). His opponent, Jake the Shiv, has values of 152 (BCS equals 20; Control Throw equals 10; Aim equals 2 ) and 40 (BCS equals 8), respectively. Hawk would have an effective score to determine his BCS of 15612 or 76. This yields a BCS of 13. Phis is greater than his normal BCS with Single Weapon Combat of 12. Therefore his modified BCS is lowered to 12. He is at no disadvantage for being mounted. Jakes average score is 19212 or 96 yielding a BCS of 19. This leaves Jake still superior to Hawk in Combat Skill but Jake has lost his Control Throw and his Aim. I f Jakes Beast Riding Skill had been 66, his averaged score would have been 21812 or 109. This would have given him a BCS of 20, a Control Throw of 1, but still n o aim. I f he had been a superb horseman with a score of 100, his averaged score would have been 25212 or 126 yielding a BCS of 20, a Control Throw of 5 and an Aim of 1.
an inherent BCS modification of plus 3. His Basic Chance of Success derived from his Talent score is 4. Thus Jos base BCS with the carbine is 7. This will be modified by Restrictions, Distractions, and other Situational Modifiers as would any normal Basic Chance of Success. When Jo finally gets to learn Rifle Combat Skill and his score exceeds 35 which gives a BCS of 7, he will be using the Basic Chance of Success generated from the Skill score. He will n o longer receive the benefit o f inherent modification for the carbine. Until then however, his BCS will be 7 due to Talent and the weapon. This can be thought of as sort of a minimum base BCS built from the characters raw ability and the ease of use and quality of the tool in use.
PREREQUISITES T O SKILLS
Some Skills are designated as requiring a Prerequisite Skill. This means that a character must have a score of at least 25 in the Skill or Skillsspecified as being prerequisiteto the Skill he wishes to learn before he can acquire a score in that Skill.
COMBAT SKILLS
There are several things peculiar to Combat Skills and so they are dealt with in this section. Combat Skill will, when in use, result in the character having a certain positioning. This is used as a modification to the exact Location of a hit in combat. It is particularly pertinent in determining which arm or leg is hit. Also, Combat Skills have chances for Aim and Control Throws arising from the second range of score.
POSITIONING DUE TO SKILL IN USE

Each Combat Skill will be specified as frontal, presented or refused. Frontal positioning indicates a 50-50 chance of either side of the character being hit when struck through a Front or Rear hex. A 70% chance of hitting the side that the attack is coming from occurs when the strike is made from a Side hex. Presented and refused each have a 70% chance of striking the weaponed or non-weaponed side respectively when the attack is made through a Front hex. An attack from a Side Hex has a 50% chance of striking either side of the character when successful. An attack from a Rear hex reverses the probability of the Front hex attack. That is an attack against a character in Presented positioning has a 70% chance of striking the non-weaponed side and against the character in Refused positioning it has a 70% chance of striking the weaponed side. A character with Presented positioning is attempting to keep his body in profile to his opponent with his primary weapon between him and his opponent. A character will hold his primary weapon in his favored hand unless otherwise specified. This side is considered the weaponed side. The other side is referred to as the non-weaponed side. A character with Refused postioning is also attempting to keep his body in profile to his opponent but he holds the weapon in his favored hand away from his opponent with his body between it and his opponent. A character using this positioning usually has something else to interpose between his body and his opponent such as a shield.
RAW TALENT VERSUS TRAINED SKILL

As noted in the section on Talents, if a character does not have a score in a Skill that he wishes to perform, he may use his score in the Governing Talent forthat Skill as if it were his score in the Skill. To that Basic Chance of Success that is derived from that number, he may add any inherent BCS modifications that arise due the tools required to perform the Skill. The most common kind of inherent modification comes from the use of a gun. Once the characters score in the Skill is such that the Basic Chance of Success exceeds the Basic Chance of Success that he would have by using the BCS generated by the Governing Talent and any inherent BCS modifications, he must use the BCS generated from his score in the Skill. He will no longer receive any inherent BCS modifications. They are only compensations for a person untrained in the proper use of such things. Jo thestrong does not have Rifle Combat Skill but his Combatative Talent is 20. He finds himself in a firefight with a carbine in his hands. The carbine has
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ATTACKS

Some weapons are noted as being capable of secondary attacks. The use of such an option is left to the player controlling the character. It is not required. If it is to be used, the attempt to make a secondary attack must be specified to the Gamesmaster when the character is initiating his Attack Action. During the phases that pass while the character is
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VARIATION IN CHARACTER STANCE DUE TO POSITIONING Presented Frontal Refused
Percentage Breakdown of exact hit Location for attack coming from surrounding hexes
70% Right
50% Right
30% 50% Right 50% Left 70% Right 30% Left 30% 70% 50%
Right Left
Right
70% Right
70% Right
30%
50% Right 50% Left
Left
50% Right 50% Left 30% Right 70% Left 50% Right 50% Left
30% Right 70% Left 50% Right 50% Left 70% Right 30% Left
50% Right
Right
50% 30% Right 70% Left
Left
conducting the Attack Action, he is considered t o b e without benefit of his normal Weapon Defense Ability. The secondary attack will have an effective score, to convert to Basic Chance of Success, of one half the total score in that Combat Skill. For example a character with a score of 150 would derive the BCS and Aim for a primary attack from a score of 150 and a secondary attack from a score of 75.
ALTERATIONS DUE T O AIM

The Dot Pattern connects contiguous Locations on the Body Map.
Deliberate Miss
WEAPONS DEFENSE ABILITY IN COMBAT

A character using a Hand-to-hand Combat Skill has a Weapon Defense Ability (WDA) against opponents using Hand-to-hand Combat Skills to attack him. Thevalue forthis Ability is subtracted from the opponents Basic Chance of Success. When a character using a Missile Combat Skill is engaged by an opponent using a Hand-to-hand Combat Skill, he may use a skilled or unskilled unarmed-combat Combat Skill t o generate a Weapon Defense Ability. When doing this the character will suffer a negative modification to his own Basic Chance of Success when he resolves his missile attack. This modification will be equal to the Weapon Defense Ability used by the character with the missile weapon. The Weapon Defense Ability is calculated from the first one hundred points of score in thecombat Skill. It can easily be different for each Hand-to-hand Combat Skill that the character has score in. It is equal to the score in the Skill (first 100 points only) divided by 20 and rounded to the nearest.
Deliberate Miss
Deliberate Miss
AIM WITH A COMBAT SKILL

When a character had gained enough skill in a Combat Skill he will begin to be able to aim. For each point of Aim, the Location of a hit on the body map may be altered by one Location. These must be contiguous Locations and follow the transference lines on the accompanying diagram. The use of Aim points is not required and, if used, all need not be expended. Aim points are not cumulative from attack to attack. Aim is calculated similarly to Weapon Defense Ability except that the second 100 points of the score in thecombat Skill are used. That is, Aim Points equal (Score-100)/20, down.
Deliberate Miss
Deliberate Miss
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CONTROL THROWS DURING COMBAT

When a character in combat rolls a 20, he is subject t o a Critical Miss. However, the player may attempt to make a Control Throw for his character to avoid the effects of the Critical Miss. If the throw is made, there will be no Critical Effects to the miss. I f not, the Gamesmaster will roll on the Critical Miss Effects Table to see what has happened to the hapless character. Control Throw equals (Score-100)/5, down and is treated as if it were a normal BCS. When used with Missile Combat Skills this Control Throw indicates that the character has been careful before hand and has not used inferior or defective equipment or ammunition. In such cases treat as a normal miss. With such things as bullets, have the player remove an additional round from the characters total of ammunition since the Control Throw indicates that the round in question was discarded as defective.
ENCUMBRANCE
The encumbrancesystem isa way of measuring how much of a load the character iscarrying and how thedistribution of that load will affect the character when he attempts to perform various actions while carrying the load. Each character has an Encumbrance Capacity which is the maximum value of Encumbrance (ENC) that the character may carry o n any kind of a sustained basis. The Encumbrance value of any item is rated on an abstract scale which compares the bulkiness of an object to its mass. A simplistic expression of this is presented in the Encumbrance Value Chart below. This chart will yield a rough figure for the object being considered which may then be adjusted by the Gamesmaster as he feels properto reflect the Encumbrance value of the item. In general, an item designed to be handled or stored conveniently will have a lower ENC value than an item of the same mass and bulk which has many protrusions or is of an awkward shape. Representative examples of each bulk and mass classification are given following the chart. For items which are presented in the weapons, armor or equipment lists, we will give a specific ENC value. These values can be used by a Gamesmaster as a guideline in tailoring specific Encumbrance values for items which are introduced to the campaign.
THE THRUST IN COMBAT

Any weapon classified as capable of a thrust may be used to deliver one. The player must specify that the character is using a thrust before the attack is resolved. A thrust will add 1 to the Basic Chance of Success but will lower the effective Strength Group by 1 for purposes of determining the Effect Die. A thrust has a percentage chance of achieving a special effect equal to the Damage Potential. If this occurs it is treated as a Missile Special Effect.
DISTRIBUTION OF ENCUMBRANCE
A character has a limited amount of space over which he may distribute a load upon his person. This is broken down
ENCUMBRANCE VALUE CHART

MASS BULK VSrn
SM
Med
Lg VL9
HG1
HG2 HG3
VLt 0.001 0.05 0.1 0.3 0.6 2 4 6
Lt 0.05 0.1 0.3 0.6 1.o 3.5 7.0 10.5
HVY
0.1 0.6
1.o
VHvy
0.6 1.o 1.6 2.0 4.5 6.0 12.0 18.0
1.5 3.5 5.0 10.0 15.0
MS1 1.o 1.6 2.0 3.5 5.0 8.0 16.0 24.0
MS2 2.0 3.5 5.0 7.0 10.0 16.0 32.0 48.0
MS3 3.0 5.0 7.5 10.0 15.0 22.0 44.0 66.0
BULK
VSm
......
very small..
able to be hidden in a hand, such as a coin, gem, small jewelry, etc. hand and does not project far from the hand, such as knives, candles, clubs, lanterns, etc. held and used in one hand but significantly larger than the hand, such as short swords, torches, etc. about a meter in length, such as swords, large tools, bundles, etc. able to be held or carried in one hand but usually requiring two hands to use properly, such as
HG
.......
huge ....
Sm
.......
small
. . . . . . . can be held and used with one
staves, longbows, polearms, crossbows, rifles, etc. greater than 6 feet long and bulky, usually requires two hands to carry HG1: mattress, small giant, coffin, etc. HG2: horses, carts, small car, etc. and so on.
Med
......
medium..
...
MASS
VLt
......
very light..
...
Lg
. . . . . . . . large.. . . . . . . usable in one hand and up to
Lt . . . . . . . . light Hvy
...... ........
......
heavy
V L g . . . . . . . very large
...
VHvy.. ... very heavy ... MS . . . . . . massive . . . . . .
wood, paper, feathers, cloth, etc. flesh, leather, water, heavy woods, etc. stone, gemstones, iron, brass, etc. lead, silver, etc. MS1: gold, platinum, etc. MS2: uranium, plutonium, etc. and so on
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into areas such as his hands, his back, at his belt and slung from his side. The character may wear or carry containers at these locations which will hold other items. Each container will be rated according to the maximum ENC value it will hold and the maximum bulk grouping which will fit into the containers opening. Once an item is placed into a container its effective ENC will be halved. This half value is what is assessed against the characters Encumbrance Capacity. However, the items full ENC value is what is assessed against the containers maximum capacity. Containers such as backpacks, when worn properly merely occupy space and do not count against the total Encumbrance value that the character is carrying. A character may carry: 1 thing on his back. 1 thing up to Very Large in each hand. 1 thing slung over each shoulder. 10 things on a belt. It should be noted that athing may actually occupy more than one position on a belt. For example, a tool kit designed for belt wear is only one thing for determining its ENC value but it will take up about 5 places on a belt. Armor and clothing that is worn should have the total ENC value of each garment or item calculated and the total of the ENC value for all the garments and items is the ENC value that will be assessed against the characters Encumbrance Capacity. Any garments or items of armor that are carried rather than worn will have their ENC values doubled.
He then takes u p a quarterstaff in his right hand for an additional Encumbrance of 1. The final Encumbrance Total is 6.27. Yusof has a Strength Group of 4 and a Deftness Group o f 2. This gives him an Encumbrance Capacity of ( 3 x 4 ) t 2 or 14., Thus, load he is carrying will put him at Partially Encumbered status. If he rids himself of the staff before going into action, he will be in Unencumbered status.
ACCESS TO STORED ITEMS

In order to get an item which has been stored i n a container, the character must get access to the container, open it and sort the desired item out from the other items in the container. The time taken in doing this can be of serious importance if this is being done in the middle of a desperate situation. The player should state that the character is beginning to get an item and inform the Gamesmaster of where it is kept. The character will then be engaged in the process for a number of Actions. The exact number should be known only totheGamesmaster.Thewil1 announceto the player that he has found the item sought at the end of the Action on which it is found. T o determine which item the desired one will be when items in a container are gone through, the Gamesmaster will roll a die with a range equal to the number of things in the container. If the number of things is not equal to oneof the standard ranges, the Gamesmaster should roll the die with the next largest range and reroll if the result is outside the range determined by the number of things. The result of the die roll will indicate which item the desired one will be. A character may sort through a number ofthingsequa1 to his Deftness group in each Action. The method of closure used on the container may also affect the time involved. A container that is unsealed or closed only by a snap or Velcro-type seal will not add to the time involved. A button or buckle will add 1 Action for each button or buckle involved. If the container is closed by being tied, it will add 3 Actions. OPTION A character may cut the overall time down by making a Deftness Saving Throw. The results of the throw are kept secret by the Gamesmaster since it will affect when the character finds the sought after item. If the die roll result is in the characters Ability Saving Throw range, the time will be cut by 1/3,rounded to the nearest Action. If the result is in the characters Critical Saving Throw range the time will be cut in half, rounded to the nearest. Yusof of the previous example is in Detailed Action Time and finds that he needs some of his medical supplies. With his Deftness Group of 2, he will have two Actions per Combat Turn. He will spend the first turn taking off his pack, since it requires two Actions to do so. The backpack is held closed by two buckles so it will take Yusof another turn to open the pack. Because all the items in the pack are in separate bags, the Gamesmaster rules that there are 4 things in the pack. The Gamesmaster rolls 1 0 4 (Roll 1 D6 and ignore results over 4 ) and the result is 3. Since Yusofs Deftness Group is 3.he willget the right bag on the first action of sorting. Because there are two bandages to each unit of supplies. there is a 1 in 3 chance that each thing gone through in the small bag will be a unit of supplies. Yusof can check up to 3 things per Action. The Gamesmaster starts rolling l D 3 for each item sorted. The second die roll is a 1 so the thing is a unit of supplies. The total number of Actions would be six. Yusof is in a hurry so the player elects to attempt a Saving Throw to cut the time. The Gamesmaster rolls 1020. The die result
ENCUMBRANCE STATUS
Once a player has calculated his characters Encumbrance Capacity and the Encumbrance Total of all gear carried and worn, the characters encumbrance status may be determined. The requirements for each status and its effects are listed in the table below.
Status
Unencumbered up to 1/2 ENC CAP Partially Encumbered up to 3/4 ENC CAP Fully Encumbered up to full ENC CAP
Deftness
Speed BCS
** no modifications **
-25%
-50%
-25%
-50%
-1
-2
As with other percentage modifications t o Attribute scores the percentage is taken from the effective score. The BCS modification applies only to Skills which require physical exertion or the exercise of dexterity. They do not apply to any Skills which are cerebral in nature.
Yusof Strongarm is getting ready to go adventuring and is packing up his gear. Into a pack (ENC CAP 10) go: a bag with field rations ( 10 at 0.1 each), a bag with 10 bandages (0.05 each) and 5 units of medical supplies f.1 each), a bag with a hammer (.6) and 5 iron spikes ( . 4 each), and a full5 liter water skin ( I ) . This has a total Encumbrance value of 5.6. He shrugs the pack into place o n his back. Once there it will add 2.8 to his Encumbrance Total. The value for the clothes and armor that he is wearing is 0.1 7 . This brings his Encumbrance Total to 2.97. Yusof belts on his sword (.7) and stuffs a pistol(.3) into his belt. He slings a coil of rope( 1 ) over his right shoulder and a shoulder bag over the left. The bag contains 10 spare rounds for the pistol (.01 each) and a repair kit for the gun (.5). In the bag, they have an effective Encumbrance of .3. This new gear raises his Total by 2.3 to 5.27.
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falls in Yusofs Ability Saving Throw range. This means that the time in terms of numbers of Actions will be cut in half, to three. The Gamesmaster will announce that Yusof has a unit of supplies in his hands at the end of the third Action from the time that the player announced that Yusof was beginning the attempt. I f interrupted, Yusof would have to pick up the process again from where he left off. A new calculation of the time reauired should be made.
A quadrupedal body is also represented by 30 Locations but in a different fashion. When a level on the body is indicated the third LOC listed represents the underbelly of the animal. The percentage determinations for the exact Location works in much the same way as for bipedal forms. The specifics along with the Hit Location Tables are presented on page 28.
QUADRUPEDAL HIT LOCATION MAP
PERSONAL MASS
A characters mass must be known to determine the Encumbrance Total for any mount the character may ride and for calculations involving Bash effects. Personal Mass is equal to the characters Personal Encumbrance plus one third his Encumberance Total, rounded down. A character who is charging will increase his Personal Mass by 50%. An unconscious character will have his Personal Encumbrance increased by 50% before the Personal Mass calculation. A struggling character trying to avoid being carried off will have twice his normal Personal Encumbrance for purposes of making the Personal Mass caluculation.
Belly locations are
LOCATION AND ARMOR

This system has the human body divided into 30 areas. Each is refered to as a Location (LOC). When a character is successfully attacked, 1D100 will be rolled to see where the attack landed on the Location map. Generally, a level on the body will be indicated. A die roll of 20 indicates LOC 4/5. If the character struck is presenting either his front or back to the direction of the attack there is a 50% chance that LOC 4 will be struck, and, if LOC4 is not indicated, then LOC5 .is struck. When the character is facing in such a direction that one side of his body is closer to the direction of the attack, there is a 70% chance that the side facing the direction of the attack will be the one that is struck. In the caseabove, if the attack had been coming from the characters left side, there would have been a 70% chance that LOC 5 would receive the attack. If the die roll was greater than 70 on 10100 than LOC 4 would have been the target.
BIPEDAL HIT LOCATION MAP
\ 1
1 9
Once the exact Location of the strike from a successful attack is known, the protection on that Location must be checked. This protection may be from hide, clothing or armor. It will be rated for an Armor Value or AV. This Armor Value will be subracted from the Damage Potential derived from the attack to determine the actual damage done to the character receiving the attack. Armor and clothing materials are rated for their Armor Value as well as their ENC for each point that they cover. From these values the protection of the garment and its total ENC value can be calculated. This has already been done for items in the lists of standard gear. It is important that armor and clothing be treated as garments and not just isolated pieces. Only the best Armor Value that a character has covering a given Location is used to subtract from the Damage Potential. However the total ENC value for all items worn is assessed against the characters Encumbrance Total.
OPTION ENHANCED ARMOR VALUES

Under this Option a character receives ttie Armor Value of additional layers worn on top of or underneath his best armor. He does not, however, receive the full value. Each extra layer will have an Armor Value equal to its normal value divided by 4, rounded down. The character is still subject to the full encumbrance values of the extra layers.
20
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This Option is a more accurate reflection of reality but tends to make the game less sporting. It is only recommended for detail fanatics who wish even more calculations.
USE OF ARMOR T O PREVENT DAMAGE

Against most forms of attack, the Armor Value of the material covering the Location which is hit will be subtracted from the Damage Potential. In the case of constriction attack, the format of the material will affect its Armorvalue. A Rigid format material will have an effective Armor Value of twice its normal value until this doubled value is exceeded by the Damage Potential on one phase. At this point, the armor Value will be effectively 0 since the material is considered crushed beyond use. A character will receive an additional amount of points of Subdual damage equal to the normal Armor Value of the Material when the material is removed. This must be done before any healing can be done to the injured area. Semi-Rigid, Flexible Hard, and all Reinforced materials will have their normal Armor Value against the first constriction. On successive turns their value will be reduced by half, rounded down, until the source of the constriction is removed. A second constriction o n thesame Location allows the process to begin again. All other formats of armor materials provide no protection against constriction at all. They have an effective Armor Value of 0.
ARMOR FORMATS
Each of the various types of armor that a character can wear is specified as having a format. These formats are Rigid ( R ) ; Semi-Rigid (SR); Flexible, Hard (FH); Flexible, Soft (FS) and Flexible, Quiltable (Fa). The format of an armor is important for determing its use when an armor is reinforced and when the character is subject to damage due to constriction.
REINFORCING ARMOR
All Flexible, Quiltable materials may bequi1ted to yield a more protective armor. This increases the Armor Value by 1 and doubles the ENC value for each Location the garment covers. This process may be done properly by any character with Tailor Skill. T o indicate that the armor has been treated in this fashion the designation Q- is placed in front of the code for that type of armor. Thus Heavy Cloth with a designation of HC, a format of Flexible, Quiltable and an ENC value of .0008per Location would, when quilted have a designation of Q-HC, the same format and an ENC value of .0016 per Location covered. It would also have its Armor Value increased from 2 to 3. All Flexible, Soft and Flexible, Quiltable materials may be Reinforced. The Reinforcing will raise the Armor Value by one third the Armor Value of the Rigid format reinforcing material rounded to the nearest. The ENC value per Location will be raised by the ENC value of the Rigid format material. The format of the resultant armor will be Flexible, Hard. A given armor may only be Reinforced once, although a Flexible, Quiltable material may be both Quilted and Reinforced. I f the example above were to be Reinforced with bronze studs (Designation: BP; Format: R; ENC: .06), its new designation would be A(BP)-Q-HC. Its new Armor Value would be 3 + (6/3) or 3 + 2or5 and its ENC value per Location would be ,0016 + .06 or .0616. Any character with Armorer Skill may Reinforce armor. Only those armor materials dealt with above may be reinforced in any way.
AVERAGE ARMOR VALUE

The Average Armor Value is used to defend against attacks upon the character made by multiple small objects such as occur with fragmentation type effects. It is also the basic rating of the character in the Tactical Combat System. Average Armor Value is calculated by summing the best Armor Value on each Location, dividing the result by 30 and rounding to the nearest. Yusof of the two previous examples is wearing armor and clothing of the following characteristics: Location Armor Total Item Coverage Code Value ENC Steel helmet 1 SP 9 .07 Clothing 4-18 & 21-28 H C 2 .01 Heavy Leather 4-12 HL 4 .07 Torso Armor Light Leather 17-20 LL 3 .02 Calf Boots This yields a total Encumbrance value of .17 To determine the Average Armor Value only the best armor on each Location is considered. On Location 1, there is 9. On Locations 2 and 3, there is 0 On Locations 4 to 12, there is 4. On Locations 13 . to 16, there is 2. On Locations 17 to 20, there is 3. On Locations 21 to 28, there is 2. On Locations 29 and 30,there is 0. This gives one Location with 9, nine Locations with 4, four Locations with 3, twelve Locations with 2 and four Locations with 0. The total of the Armor Values is 9 t ( 9 x 4) + (4 x 3 ) + ( 1 2 x 2 ) t (4 x 0 ) or 9 +36 t 12 t 24 + 0 or 81. This is divided by 30 to give 2.7. This is rounded to the nearest to give an Average Armor Value of 3.
LEATHER AND HIDES AS ARMOR

Any character with Leatherworker Skill can properly cure a hide to yield the standard Armor Value for the type of hide being worked. These values are specified in the Armor Materials Listing in Book 2. A character who fails his Basic Chance of Success roll or one who does not have Leatherworker Skill will get a badly cured version of the hide that will have an Armor Value of 1 less than normal. It can not be later hardened. Any leather that is of Flexible, Soft format may be Hardened by a character with Leatherworker Skill to increase the Armor Value by 1. This will add H- to the materials designation and change its format to Flexible, Hard. It will not alter its ENC value per Location, A material may not be Reinforced after it is Hardened nor may it be Hardened after it is Reinforced.
IMPROVISING ARMOR MATERIALS

Any character may improvise armor. A character with Armorer Skill whodoes not have the properfacilities will only be Improvising. Improvised armor will only have one half of its normal Armor Value. This rule is designed t o deal with things that were not originally meant to be used as armor being pressed into service by a character who is without useful armor.
OPTION DESTRUCTION OF ARMOR

If the Damage Potential or BDG of an attack exceeds the armor Value by three times its value the armor on that Location is considered destroyed starting on the next phase. After combat a characterwithanappropriateSkillforworking the material may restore it to one half Armor Value until repairs can be made to restore it to full value.
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TIME AND MOVEMENT

Once the characters adventuring careers have begun, time in the game will pass at different rates. Thetimescale in use in any particular instance depends on several things. How the characters are travelling, what they are trying to do and what is happening around them all have bearing on the time scale to be used. The Gamesmaster will make the decision as to which scale is to be used. He will then ask for appropriate responses from the players with regard to their characters actions and intents. The scales for the passage of time in the game which are defined here are: Strategic, Tactical, Detailed Action Time, Real Time and Down Time.
DETAILED ACTION TIME SCALE

Detailed Action time scale is used when determining the results of such intricate interactions as combat, death traps, confrontations, etc. Since the most common use of Detailed Action Time (DAT) is combat, a turn is refered to as a Combat Turn. The actual time represented by a Combat Turn is about 6 seconds. Each Combat Turn is divided up into Action Phases. This is done to break down the complex interpenetration of complicated actions occurring almost simultaneously into sort of a slow motion where each action can be considered and resolved in the light of the other actions taking place around it. The specifics of Detailed Action Time are involved and are treated in their own section on page 20.
STRATEGIC TIME SCALE

Strategic time scale is usually used when the characters are doing longdistance travelling. A day is divided into two Strategic Turns, one for the day and one for the night. The characters are assumed to travel during one of the turns and rest during the other. If the players wish to have their characters travel for more than one consecutive Strategic Turn, they will be subject to the Forced March rules on page 19. During each Stategic Turn the Gamesmaster will make a check to see if the characters have an Encounter. The procedure for this is presented in Book3. If the characters do indeed have an Encounter, the Gamesmaster will probably switch to one of the other time scales in order to resolve the interaction between the characters and whatever or whoever they have encountered. As the characters travel, the Gamesmaster should describe to the players the nature of the terrain through which the characters are travelling. This would include the nature of the vegetation, any significant geographical features and any man-made structures. If a location or a feature is well hidden or off the direct route that the characters are following, the Gamesmaster may wish to roll 1D20 to see if the travellers will discover theHidden Thing. Locations that are preplanned by the Gamesmaster may well have guards, outposts or some kind of outlying group that might interact with a traveling group of adventurers when they draw near. The Gamesmaster should make a special encounter check for this. Such things may lead the characters onto an unplanned adventure, unplanned by them that is.
REAL TIME SCALE

Real Time scale is a variation of Detailed Action Time in that it is a short time scale and is used to handle short, complicated interactions such as conversations or unusual actions not accounted for in the standard rules. When Real Time is invoked, it is the players rather than the characters who are consuming the time in the game. That is to say, that however long it takes players to complete their conversation or whatever, is how long it will take the characters to finish the same conversation. Naturally, things will continue to happen around the characters. If something that would impinge upon the senses of the characters happens, the Gamesmaster should inform the players of this at the point it happens as if the characters noticed it while they were performing their actions. The Real Time scale is where much of the role playing in a Role Playing Game comes from. Here players frequently act as their characters in a literal sense. Some players even develop accents or characteristic methods of speech so the other players will know when it is the character speaking instead of the player.
DOWN TIME SCALE

Unlike the other timescales, Down Time is not used during an adventure. It is used between adventures. The game time consumed can vary from days to weeks to months to years. This is the time scale to be used when the characters are Studying, Researching, Rebuilding, etc. The Gamesmaster, unless specifically requested by the players, should always allow the characters to have some Down Time between adventures. During Down Time, the usual hazards of the town, ruins, or wilderness are considerably reduced or, if the Gamesmaster is in a good mood, nonexistant. When a regular campaign is being run, a good scale to use is a week of actual time between gaming sessions corresponds to a month of game time. This allows a greater flow of time in the game and players can thus see their successful characters live out a lifetime in something less than the players own lifetimes. As noted above the flow of time in Down Time Scale is flexible and the Gamesmaster may wish to vary the Down Time between adventures to be more suitable to the campaign or the particular series of adventurers that the characters have embarked upon. When the time in this scale extends much beyond a month and the players wish to have their characters engaged in constant Study or Research, the
TACTICAL TIME SCALE

Tactical time scale is most flexible with regard to the length of a Tactical Turn. The exact length of aTactical Turn is left to the Gamesmasters discretion and can vary from one turn to the next. It is intended that the Tactical scale cover time periods ranging from 10 minutes to 1 hour. Tactical scale should have the length of its turn reflect the complication of the action to be resolved. The more complicated it IS, the shorter the period should be. Thus, when characters are travelling through something like a ruined city in which the Gamesmaster has located several prepared areas but has not mapped the whole city in close detail, a turn of an hours length would beappropriate. When the characters reach one of the predesigned areas, the time scale should be altered to turns lasting 10 or 20 minutes. A variation on Tactical time scale is used with the Tactical Combat rules and is presented with those rules in Book 3.
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Gamesmaster should take human nature into account. Characters will get bored or exasperated with what they are doing and will not apply themselves fully. In this fashion, not all the time will be available for the characters to increase their Skills or build things. Sometimes, even a character will need a vacation from the constant hard schedule that a player will outline for him. The Gamesmaster might require the character to make a'Will Saving Throw, at various intervals, in order for the character to remain dedicated to the player's regimen of studies or other procedures. During some adventures the gaming session will end before the particular scenario is completed. In such cases, it is best to "freeze" the action in place. The positions of all characters should be carefully noted along with what they were doing when the action was "frozen." At the next game session the action may be resumed where it left off at the last session. When this occurs frequently, the Gamesmaster may wish to allow a longer than usual period when next heallows Down Time.
MOVEMENT MODIFIERS CHART

On Good Road ............................ .200% On Poor Road.. ............................ 100% On Ruined Road ........................... .50% In Ruined City.. ............................ ,259'0 In Built-up Area ............................ .50% In Open Terrain ............................ 100% In Rough or Impeding Terrain.. ............. .75% In Woods, Hills or Desert ................... .50% In Forest, Swamp, Jungle, or Mountains ..... ,25% At Night without light.. ..................... .25% At Night with Dim light ..................... .50% At Night with Good light.. ...................75% In Light Rain or Fog ........................ .75% In Heavy Rain or Fog or Light Snow.. ....... .50% In Dense Fog or Heavy Snow ............... .25%
COMBINING TIME SCALES

There will come times in the course of a campaign when the Gamesmaster will find that a combination of more than one time scale will prove a superior way to handlea situation. A fight that uses missile weapons at ranges over 50 meters is a good example. Characters can still resolve their actions as if they were in Detailed Action Time for purposes of what they can do and when they can do it. For movement if characters are trying to close the distance between the hostile groups, the use of Tactical Scale movement is recommended. The Gamesmaster may keep track of such actions by noting the positions of all involved parties o n his Tactical Scale map and only shift to the Detailed Action Time Display when the opponents are about 20 meters apart. Often when doing this, the Gamesmaster may wish to represent each party as if they were on the DAT Display and use a Tactical Display where each hex is 10 meters (or some other appropriate number). A marker on theTactica1 Display would be used to indicate each of the Tactical Display hexes that has one or more characters in it. This technique aids the players' grasp of the tactical situation. It is recommended when feasible.
On Day After Heavy Rain (day 1) ... 75% (day 2 ) . 100% Light Snow (day 1) ... 50% (day 2 ) . ... 75% Heavy Snow (day 1) 25% (day 3 ) . 75% (day 2) .. 50% (day 4 ) . .. 100% Prolonged Snow: for each additional day of snow add 1 day at the worst penalty
..
..
...
For calculation purposes remember that 75% is equal to .75, 100% is equal to 1.0. etc.
FORCED MARCH
Forced March entails the character pushing himself beyond the pace assumed in the travel rules. This can be done in one of two ways: the Fast March or the Long March. If either form is attempted on a second consecutive day, a Health Ability Saving Throw is required for it to be used. On the third day, a Health Critical Saving Throw is required. O n following days, a Health Critical Saving Throw at one half the normal value is required. If the Saving Throw is not made, no Forced March is allowed o n that day. Normal travel is allowed. After one day at normal pace, the ability to Force march is regained.
MOVEMENT IN TACTICAL OR STRATEGIC TRAVEL

Each character will have a movement rate fora day's travel. This rate assumes ten hours of travel and includes proper rest breaks. A character wishing to exceed these rates is subject to the Forced March rules. The basic rates are subject to modifiers due to terrain and weather conditions. A character's basic traveling rate is equal to 10 plus his effective Speed in kilometers. This is for oneday's travel. For the hourly rate, simply divide by 10. When calculating the modified travel rate, all the percentages in the chart below should be treated as decimals and multiplied consecutively by the basic travel rate. J.J. Jones is travelling through hills ( x 5) a Good on Road(x 1.0) on the seconddayaftera LightSnow(x .75). With a Speed of 32, her daily travel rate is 42 kilometers and her hourly rate is 4.2 kilometers. A day's travel under the conditions above, therefore, will be 42 x .5 x 1.0 x .75 or 15.75, rounded to 16 kilometers that day. This also means her hourly rate will be 1.6 kilometers an hour.
THE FAST MARCH

This form allows the character to move at double the base hourly rate. The doubled base rate is still subject to terrain modifiers. The maximum number of hours during which the character may move at this rate is equal to the character's Healing Rate. Each hour, or fraction thereof, that the character is moving at this rate beyond the safe limit will do 2D10 of Subdual Damage to the character. This damage is treated like normal subdual damage and may be recovered from in the usual fashion. (See Damageand Healing on page 36.) This damage may lower the base movement rate. Once the character has passed out from the strain of the Fast March, he may not use Forced March for the rest of the day.
THE LONG MARCH

This form allows the character to continue moving at his normal base rate for more than the normal 10 hours. The maximum number of safe hours that he may do this is equal to his Healing Rate. Each hour, or fraction thereof, beyond the safe limit does 2D10 of subdual damage as in Fast March.
1 9
DETAILED ACTION TIME

The scale of play known as Detailed Action Time (DAT) is used for situations where the specific actions of the characters and the time that it takes to resolve such actions are followed in close detail. The most common use of this scale is combat. Therefore one turn in this scale in known as a Combat Turn. One Combat Turn approximates 6 seconds of real time. Each Combat Turn is broken down into a variable number of Action Phases. Each action taken during a Combat Turn will occur on a particular Action Phase. During the Combat Turn the Gamesmaster will count down from the highest numbered Action Phase in which one of the involved characters may act. When the countdown reaches the phase in which a character may act, the controlling player must inform the Gamesmaster of the character's actions. Action Phase 0 is the bookkeeping phase and NO characters may act in this phase. Various Abilities are involved in the character's execution of actions under the rules of Detailed Action Time. These Abilities are recounted here along with their specific appliactions. Base Action Phase (BAP) equals Speed/2, Down. This is the highest-numbered phase in the Combat Turn in which the character may initiate actions in accordance to the Movement and Action rules. The character with the highest BAP in a given Detailed Action Time determines the starting point of the countdown. That point is equal to the character's BAP.
0
When a character on a Detailed Action Time Display (see below) is moving at less than 1 meter per phase, the marker should not be moved from one 1 meter hex to another until the character has accumulated sufficient movement to account for the 1 meter change on the Display. It is the responsibility of the controlling player to keep track of all partial movements of this nature.
EFFECTS OF PRE-EMPTION & SURPRISE

If a character initiates an Action and thereby causes the Gamesmaster to declare that Detailed Action Time is neccessary, the Gamesmaster may decide that the character has "pre-empted" the other characters involved. This means that the countdown of the Action Phasesforthe first Combat Turn of the Detailed Action Time will begin on the Base Action Phase of the character who initiated the Action which caused Detailed Action Time to begin. Any characters who have higher Base Action Phases are treated as if they had done nothing until this point in thecountdown. This situation prevails only on the first Combat Turn. All subsequent turns begin, as usual, at the Base Action Phase of the character with the highest BAP. When a character is in a position to surprise another character and thereby initiate Detailed Action Time, the controlling player may choose the Action Phase on which the countdown will begin in the first turn of Detailed Action Time. Once the phase is chosen the Combat Turn proceeds as if a character had pre-empted the situation and the preempting character's Base Action Phase was the phase chosen by the player whose character has achieved surprise. A surprised character may only use his Weapon Defense Ability if the phase of initiation is higher than the surprised character's Phases Consumed in Action number and the character makes a Speed Ability Saving Throw.
Crafty Old Sam is hiding in the shadows of an alley waiting for a victim. A figure appears and begins to move down the alley. Sam elects to let him pass and then jump out to attack. The playerofSamstates that Sam will initiate this action on Action Phase 5 which is Sam's Base Action Phase. The Gamesmaster begins the countdown at 5. Sam's intended victim has B A P of 7 and MNA of 1. Thus, his PCA is 7 and there are not enough phases left in the Combat Turn for the character to get his Weapon Defense Ability into play. Since Same began an Attack Action on 5. the victim is in engaged status. He must make a Deftness Ability Saving Throw In order to turn and face Sam. The Gamesmaster rolls 1020 and the result is 17. This is well out of range for the character. O n Action Phase 1 Sam will resolve h/s Attack action with the positive modification of 10 for attacking from a Rear hex. The victim can only subtract his Combat Dodge Ability from Sam's adjusted BCS. O n Phase 4 however. footsteps are heard in the alley. Two men begin to run towards Sam. They had been following the man who Sam is attacking. The Gamesmaster had secretly made a Wit Critical Saving Trhow to see i f Sam would discover the "Hidden Thing" of the two men. He did not. They could see Sam begin the attack on phase 5. Phase 4
Phases Consumed in Action (PCA) equals BAP/MNA, down. This is the number of phases that it takes the character to perform an Action during Detailed Action Time. If the numbers of phases left in a Combat Turn is less than the character's PCA, then the character may not initiate an Action during that Combat Turn. The character may, however, move in accordance with the Movement rules for the rest of that Combat Turn. Maximum Number of Actions (MNA) equals Deftness Group. This is the greatest number of Actions that the character may initiate and complete in a Combat Turn. A character with an MNAofO takes twoCombatTurnstocompletean action. He has a PCA of 2 x BAP. Base Movement Allowance (BMA). This is an ability which is inherent in the species of the character. The BMA of a human is 1. If MNA is equal to 0, then BMA is equal to .5. If a species has a BMA which is different from human BMA, it will be given in the listing of the statistics of that species. The Base Movement Allowance is the distance the character may cover in one phase of normal movement. This movement is measured in meters.
If a character is crawling (moving while in a prone or kneeling position) he will have an effective Base Movement Allowance of one-half his normal value. The "run" increase to BMA is not allowed.
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was the first phase on which they could act in response to Sam's actions. B y moving, they are using the rest of the Combat Turn to close the distance between themselves and the fight. Havingstarted 10 meters from Sam on phase 4 they will be 3 meters away on phases 1 . They will move 1 meter on Phase 4 and 2 meters per phase for 3 phases. Sam had better kill the first man when he resolves his Attack Action or h e is in big trouble. If a character should achieve complete surprise or execute a proper ambush, he should be allowed to perform at least one Action or move for a number of phases equal to his Phases Consumed in Action number. This would be followed by the normal Combat Turn routine with the countdown begun at its normal place. This procedure represents the initiative gained by the ambushing character and his ability to take advantage of the situation. If desired by the Gamesmaster, this method may be used instead of the one given above.
CHARACTER WITH A SHORT OR AVERAGE WEAPON
ACTIVE ZONE PASSIVE ZONE
V
CHARACTER WITH A LONG OR EXTRA LONG WEAPON
THE DETAILED ACTION TIME DISPLAY

In order to keep track of the position of characters during Detailed Action Time, the players should use a DAT display. This will consist of a hexagonal gridded sheet on which markers representing the characters are placed. The Display should also contain indications of features of sugnificance to the characters, such as walls, doors, furniture, treacherous footing, etc. These indications can be in the form of additional markers or may be drawn onto the Display or a clear sheet covering the hex grid. All characters should be represented by markers which may be moved on the Display. Anything small enough to fit in the hexes will do. We have found that miniature figures, painted to indicate the charcter depicted, add to identification with the character and to the general fun of play. If figures are not available a cardboard square marked to indicate which character it depicts is the second best choice. Remember that all markers used to represent characters must be able to denote which of the surrounding hexes is the character's central Front hex. The recommended ground scale for the Display is 1 hex equal to 1 meter.
Sample Character Marker
E 1
THE CHARACTER ON THE DAT DISPLAY

Under normal circumstances a characer on the DAT Display will occupy one hex and be able to exert influence on the six hexes immediately surrounding the hex he occupies. If the character is utilizing a Long or Extra-Long Hand-tohand weapons, an additional ring of hexes around the standard Influence Zone must be considered. Those objects classed as Restrictions which are present in these zones will hinder the character in executing a successful attack. A character's Active Zone is considered to be the hex he occupies and any Front of Long Front hexes. A character's Passive Zone is any Rear, Side and Long Side hexes. The importance of these zones and the impact of the character's positioning on any combat in which he is involved will be dealt with in the appropriate sections. Up to two active characters may occupy the same hex. Each will act as a Restriction to the other. Any other character making an attack into or through that hex has an even chance of striking either character. The one struck should be determined randomly. A character in a horizontal position, for whatever reason, will occupy two hexes on the DAT Display. If he is conscious he will still have a Zone of Influence but it will be modified as shown in the accompanying illustration.
CHARACTER IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION
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POSITION ON DAT DISPLAY MODIFICATION TABLE

All 0 DIFI CAT I0N TO STRENGTH GROUP Target in
WEAPON LENGTH
Extra-Long Long Average Short Character hex
-1 -1
RESTRICTIONS AND DISTRACTIONS

The various components of the environment which will affect a character's Basic Chance of Success in combat are divided into the non-mobile, physical Restrictions and the mobile or non-physical Distractions. The former always apply while some of the latter may be voluntarily ignored. The accompanying diagram illustrates the Restrictions imposed on a character in a given hex if he is using a Short or Average length weapon. These restrictions are only those posed by walls and doors. If the character were using a Long weapon, he would be subject t o the restrictions of the space he occupies plus one-half of the total of restrictions in the hexes i m m e d i a t e l y s u r r o u n d i n g h i m . I n these circumstances, a hex which has no available floor space counts as 1 Restriction. A character using an Extra-Long weapon is subject t o the Restrictions of the space he occupies plus the total of Restrictions in the hexes immediately surrounding him. Other Restrictions are counted if they are present in the character's zone of influence. Any solid object with a height of .5 to 1.5 meters can be considered a Restriction. Each hex occupied by an object such as a table, chair or pillar has an additional Restriction of 1. Dead or unconscious bodies in the character's own hex count as 1 Restriction each. Bodies may be stacked u p to three high in an adjacent hex before becoming a Restriction. The main source of Distractions is the occupation of hexes in a character's Zone of Influence by friendly characters or friendly characters within 1 hex of the line of fire. Each hex SO occupied counts as 1 Distraction. This type of Distraction
Front, Side Rear hex
Long Front, Long Side hex
0 0" 0 -1 0 0 Not Allowed 1 0 Not Allowed No secondary strike allowed.
Non-human species might not occupy the DAT Display in the same way as a human would. Variations will be indicated where the statistics for the species are presented.
EXAMPLE OF LONG AND EXTRA-LONG WEAPON RESTRICTIONS

Character A Own hex Restrictions (1) Total Surrounding Restrictions (5) Restrictions on Long weapon (1 + 5/2 = 4) Restrictions on Extra-Long weapon (1 + 5 = 6)
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Characters 6. and D are waiting for their opponent.Character A. C. to show himself. Characters B and C have a BAP of 12 and Characters A and 0 have a BAP 019. Characters B and C make no movement on Action Phases 12 through 10. On Phase 9 Character A begins movement by turning in place by 120 degrees. The other characters continue to wait until Character A becomes visible to them. On Phases 8. 7. and 6 Character A moves forward to the edge ofthe wall. He is now visible to the other characters and they will react by moving toward him on the next phase. On Phase 5 Character A begins to move to his left Side hex while dodging to make himself less vulnerable to missile fire. This will take two phases and will be completedon Phase4. Characters B and C begin to move toward the edge of the wall. Character D moves out his left Front facing to gain room for the maneuvering to come. On Phase 4 Characters B. C. and D all accelerate to run. On Phase 3 Character A moves along the side of the wall away from his opponents. Character B decelerates to avoid running past the edge of the wall where his opponent might be waiting in ambush
for him. Character C continues around the column at a run. Character 0 decelerates to avoid a collision with Character C on the following phase. On Phase 2 Character A moves away from the wall to have room to use weapons. Character B moves to a halt near the edge of the wall. While Character C continues his run around the column, Character D follows at a cautious walk. Phase 1 finds CharacterA turning to face the direction from which he expects his enemies to come. Character B is waiting by the edg.? of the wall. not wishing to advance without enough phases left in the Combat Turn to perform a Combat Action and not wishing to move into a space where a hidden opponent might get a free attack. Character C continues his run to swing wide of the edge of the wall to avoid an attack by being too far from a hidden enemy at the edge. Since he has run on Phase 7. Character C must move on his f i r s t available phase of the next Combat Turn. Character D continues to move slowly ahead. At the end of the Combat Turn, CharacterC has passed into Character As line of sight.
may be voluntarily ignored; by doing so the character will receive no negative modifications to his Basic Chance of Success. This course can be dangerous. If such Distractions are ignored, a Critical Miss, which would normally have had no effect, will automatically strike one of the friendlies. The exact target should be determined randomly and damage done should be calculated as for a normal successful attack. If a normal miss occurs, the number of friendlies ignored is the chance in 10 that the character must execute an attack against one of the friendlies who is determined at random. This attack is a free attack and is subject to all normal positional and situational modifiers. Other Distractions are highly variable. They should be adjudicated by the Gamesmaster. He should decide if they are present, what value they have, whether they can be ignored and, i f so, the consequences of ignoring them. Examples of Distractions include objects flying at a character, things hampering a fighter by crawling on him or things grasping a character.
MOVEMENT
The basic rule of movement in Detailed Action Time is that a character may move a distance equal to his Base Movement Allowance on each Action Phase in the countdown beginning with his own Base Action Phase. This movement is through one of the hex sides between the hex the character is in and one of his Front Hexes. Once the character has entered a new hex his facing will be adjusted so that the hex he has just vacated will be his Rear hex. This means that a character with a Base Action Phase of 12 and a
Base Movement allowance of 1 can move 12 hexes in a Combat Turn. A Character may change his facing by spending one Action Phase doing so. When this is done while in Engaged Status, the character must make a Deftness Ability Saving Throw or suffer a free attack. A character has the option of running while moving on an Action Phase. This means that he will be able to travel twice his Base Movement Allowance in a given Action Phase. p if a character elects to run at any point in the Combat Turn, he will be subject to the rules governing the stopping of forward motion given in section on page 24. In order to be able to run the character must have moved either at walk (normal BMA) or a dodge on the previous Action Phase. Additionally a character may opt to dodge. This will add to his defensive capacity with regard to missile weapons but will reduce his Base Movement Allowance by one-half. A character may dodge while using normal movement or while running. A character may move sideways or backwards. When doing this the figure on the display is placed in the Side or Rear hex at the direction of the controlling player, but the relative facing of the character is not changed. Each time in one turn that the characters accumulated movement in a sideways andfor backwards fashion exceeds his Combat Dodge Ability (explained in the section on combat) he must make a Deftness Ability Saving Throw or fall. This accumulated distance is in hexes covered and is only accumulated through each separate Combat Turn.
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A character performing an Action may move 1 meter in any direction without being subject to falling. It should be noted that this one meter of movement is all the movement that the character is allowed to make during the phases in which he performs the Action. This one meter of movement may be taken on any one phase of the phases during which the character is performing the Action and allows a sixty degree change of facing. Specific Actions may have variations on these general rules. CONTINUITY OF MOTION Any character who moves on Action Phase 1 of a Combat Turn will be considered in motion on his Base Action Phase of the following Combat Turn. This is primarily of concern for stopping of forward motion and for missile fire directed at the character before his Base Action Phase. A character who completes a Combat Action on Action Phase 1 of a Combat Turn is considered in motion for purposes of any missile fire directed at him before his Base Action Phase. Note that this means that a character performing a Combat Action such as Attack or Defend is always considered in motion with regard to missile fire directed at him.
CHARGING
In order to be eligible for charging benefits, the character or his mount must have moved for a minimum number of phases equal to 10 minus his Speed Group at arun.This movement must be essentially in a straight line but the Gamesmaster may, at his discretion, allow deviations in the path due to circumstances such as a character attempting to charge to the intersection with the path of another character. Naturally such intent must be made known to the Gamesmaster, although he may or may not reveal it t o the second character. (Is he watching the first character or is he too busy running?) Obstacles in the way of a charging character will be subject to a Bash (see page 31). A successful Bash against the charger or an unsuccessful Bash against the obstacle will break the charge and subject the charger to the rules for stopping forward motion. Each such successive result will reduce the stopping category by 1. If the charger wishes to continue to charge he must satisfy the conditions for a charge as if he were starting all over again. If the obstacle to the charging character is a weapons set against the charge and the character controlling the set weapon makes his BCS roll for the weapon Skill, the weapon will haveitschancesfor a special effect doubled and the charger will be subject to a Bash with achance in twenty equal to his own effective Mass. If the set weapon has a longer effective length than the chargers weapon, this will occur before the charger can attack. I f not, the chargers attack will be resolved first.
STOPPING FORWARD MOTION

Once a character has exceeded normal movement speed or has begun dodging, he is subject to the following conditions. He must continue moving for the distances and times as required in the table below. This movement is mandatory and must be made into a Front hex. Obstacles in the characters path may have a deleterious effect on the character. A character who makes a Speed Ability Saving Throw will reduce the additional movement required by one category. A character riding an animal must make his Beast Riding Basic Chance of Success roll AND the animal must make its Saving Throw in order to reduce the requirement by one category. A character must stop his foward motion before initiating an Action. The one meter of movement allowed during an Action may not be used to stop forward motion. A character who is at the last stage of stopping and makes his Saving Throw may move a meter and initiate an Action.
MOVEMENT THROUGH OCCUPIED HEXES

Normal movement through an occupied hex may be opposed or unopposed. Any attempt to move through an occupied hex at greater than normal movement speed is automatically opposed. If the movement is opposed, use the Deliberate Knockdown rules on page 31. The opposing character gets the normal chances at a free attack as explained in the sections on Entering and Leaving the Zone of Influence. If the movement is unopposed, both characters are required to make a Deftness Ability Saving Throw. Success means that the character making his roll has no problems. Failure indicates that the character is prevented from moving or initiating an Action for a number of phases equal to his Phases Consumed in Action number. Critical failure indicates a fall by the character rolling thetwenty and a second Saving Throw is required of the other character.
STOPPING FORWARD MOTION TABLE Category 3:

achieved by running for a full Combat Turn or Charging. Character must move on a number of phases equal to his PCA at his normal BMA after which he will be at category 2. All movement must be out of the central Front hex.
TREACHEROUS GROUND & MOVEMENT

A character moving on Treacherous Ground using dodge, run, or dodge-run type movements puts himself in danger of slipping. The former two options each give the character a 1 in 20 chance while the dodge-run option yields a 2 in 20 chance. For each phase spent in this motion the chance of a slip is increased by the basic chance. Thus, after three phases at a dodge-run a character has a 6 in 20 chance of slipping. The die roll for a slip is made on each phase. Once a slip is indicated, the character must make a Speed Ability Saving Throw to avoid a fall. If the Saving Throw is made, the character is automatically considered to be dodging on the next phase and he will move one meter. This is involuntary movement and no actions may be attempted. If this causes the character to enter an enemys Zone of Influence, the enemy will be allowed a free attack. The involuntary movement does not require a check for slipping. When the character has had a Saving Throw to make and is able to continue movement, the chance of slipping is reduced to the basic chance and will be increased again ifthe character had just started movement.
Category 2:
achievea by moving at a dodge-run or by reduction from above. Character must move one phase at his normal BMA after which he will be at Category 1. All movement must be out a Front hex.
Category 1:
achieved by moving at a dodge or a run or by reduction from above. Character must move for one phase at his normal BMA after which he will beat Category 0. All movement must be out a Front hex. Category 0: achieved by moving at a walk or by reduction from above. Character is subject to normal rules for movement in DAT.
Albert is runningo n Treacherous Ground. O n his Base Action Phase of 10, he starts. A die roll Of 4 on 1020: n o slip. On phase 9, his chance is 2 in 20 for a slip. The die roll is 1 . He makes his Speed AST. On phase 8 he involuntarily moves forward 1 meter. On phase 7 he continues to run. His chance of slipping has been reduced to 1in 20. The die roll is 12 so he is safe. On phase 6 he changes pace to a dodge-run. His chance of slipping is 3 in 20 and a die roll of 16 leaves him safe. He continues on phase 5 and the chance is up to 5 in 20. A die rollof4 indicates a slip. This time he fails his Speed AST and falls. He must make a Health Saving Throw. The die result is in his Ability Saving Throw range so he will be Dazed until phase 5 on the next Combat Turn. His phases Consumed in Action number is 5 so he can not execute an Alter Position Action to get up this Turn. He decides to crawl forward for the rest of the turn. This does not require any checks for slipping but his Base Movement Allowance is reduced to .5. During the next four phases he will cover 2 meters.
A character able to engage in combat while climbing must average his BCS in the Combat Skill in use with his BCS in Climbing Skill to get an effective BCS. This will then be subject to normal Restrictions, Distractions, Situtational and Com bat modifiers.
ENTERING THE ZONE OF INFLUENCE

A character entering any hex of the Active or Passive Zones of a hostile character who is capable of attacking is subject to a free attack. Characters who are stunned, uncounscious or otherwise physically incapable of attacking are not allowed free attacks. Actions normally preventing an attack by the character still allow him to make a free attack. Additionally, a character who enters that hostile characters Active Zone must cease movement for that Combat Turn. A character entering these Zones under the influence of the rules for stopping forward motion may be subject to mu1tiplefree attacks for each hex entered but he is not subject to the rule requiring cessation of movement. (He is not really in control, so he cannot stop when he enters the danger area, unlike the rational man assumed by the basic rule.) There are ways of avoiding free attacks and moving within a hostile characters Active and Passive Zones, but they are not accomplished using the standard rules of movement. As explained in the section on Performing Actions, a character may make a one meter move while performing an Action. This one meter move, which is the only movement allowed during a number of phases equal to the characters Phases Consumed in Action number, may be referred to as a Combat Move. If the character entering a hostile characters Active or Passize Zone is making i z Combat Move, he is not subject to a free attack. By making Combat Moves, the character may move through the hexes of the hostile characters Active and Passive Zones without incurring a free attack. The character may continue to move in this fashion as long as there are sufficient phases remaining in the Combat Turn for him to perform Actions.
CLIMBING I N DETAILED ACTION TIME

Under some circumstances it will be important to know how fast a character can climb a given distance. The effects of climbing, broken down by the method of climbing or the surface being climbed, are given in the table below. As a general rule, a character may not run while climbing although he may dodge. Sheer or almost sheer surfaces require Climbing Skill to negotiate. The Gamesmaster should roll at the beginning of the characters movement. If thecharacter does not make his BCS roll, he will slip at some point in the turn. The Gamesmaster can roll a die with a range equal to the characters Base Action Phase to determine which phase of the turn the slippage will occur. If the characters Base Action Phase does not fit in one of the ranges norally covered by a die, the Gamesmastershould use the next highest range and reroll if the result falls outside the range under consideration. If the character is operating under safety precautions when the slippage occurs, they will take effect. Characters who are roped to a secure position in the climbing surface will not fall further than the length of rope attached. Characters roped together when one falls will have to makea Strength Ability Saving Throw to keep their grip when the character on the rope next to them falls. This Saving Throw will be reduced if the total mass of falling character(s) exceeds their own Mass. The extent of the reduction is left to the Gamesmaster. A character climbing by rope or ladder will have a chance to make a Deftness Ability Saving Throw to grab the ladder again. The character who is successful in doing this will lose one meter of height and be unable to perform any other Actions till the end of the Combat Turn or for a number of phases equal to his PCA number, whichever is shorter.
ENGAGED STATUS
A character who is in the Active Zone of a hostile character who is capable of attack, is in Engaged status. It is important to note that some Actions can not be undertaken while Engaged. Others will require a Saving Throw to complete. Still others, particularly actual combat Actions, are under no penalty.
PERFORMING ACTIONS
When the character wishes to do something other than simply move during the Combat turn, he must perform an Action. Simple Actions require a number of Action Phases to complete equal to the characters Phases Consumed in Action number. If there are insufficient Action Phases Consumed in Action number. If there are insufficient Action Phases left in the Combat Turn for the character to complete the Action, it may not be initiated in that Combat Turn. More complex Actions will require the character to continue performing the Action at successive opportunities which may go on for several Combat Turns beforeenough time has been spent to resolve the Action. The basic rule for resolution of an Action is that it will be rolled for on the last of the Action Phases consumed by its performance. An Action initiated on Action Phase 7 by a character with a PCA of 3 will be resolved on Action Phase5. The same character can not initiate an Action after Action Phase 3, although he could still move subject to normal movement rules. A character performing most Actions is allowed a one meter move. This move may be in any direction and may involve a facing change of 60 degrees. When in, entering, or leaving the Active of Passive Zone of a hostile character, this movement is known as a Combat Move. This may take place
CLIMBING MOVEMENT TABLE
Method or
iurface BMA
Simple rope
.1
Notes
Maximum height in meters equal to Strength CST plus Strength Group Effect Die roll. Requires two hands. No other Actions allowed. Knotted .1 As above but substitute AST for CST. rope BCS modification of 2 while o n ladder. Ladder .25 Treacherous Ground. Stairs .5 Treacherous Ground. Running allowed.
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on any phase during which the Action is performed. Certain Actions allow no movement and these will be specified as they arise. The resolution of an Action usually requires the rolling Of a Basic Chance of Success die roll, if a Skill is in use, or of a Saving Throw, if an Attribute is being put to use.
SIMPLE ACTIONS
Most of the simple Actions are involved with combat, while more complex ones are usually not directly related to cornbat. Attack - This Action is used for armed and unarmed Handto-hand combat utilizing an appropriate Skill for the character. This Action may only be initiated if an opponent is already in range or the characters Combat Move will bring the opponent into range when initiating the attack. If the opponent leaves the Zone of lnfluenceof the character before the attack is resolved and the character cannot move to keep the opponent in his Zone, the attack is resolved on the phaseon which theopponent moves. The character may not move or initiate another action until the usual Phase. Defend - This Action allows the character to increase his Weapon Defense Ability to 150%of its normal value forthe duration of the Action. No attack allowed. Fire Weapon - This Action is required when using missile of any kind if negative modifiers due to motion are to be avoided. Muscle-powered weapons resolve at the end of the Action, and single-shot non-muscle-powered weapons in the middle, although the character may not move or initiate another action until the usual phase. Multiple shots are spaced as evenly as possible through the available phases used by the Action. In these cases, fractional values should be rounded down. This Action requires a Deftness Ability Saving Throw while Engaged. Reload Weapon - The number of times this Action must be performed before the weapon is ready to fire again will vary by weapon type. This Action requires a Deftness Ability Saving Throw while Engaged. Exchange Weapons - This Action covers the return of a weapon to its holster, sheath, or carrying place and the drawing of a new one. Some pieces of equipment (shields, polearms, etc.) may require longer and this is adjudicated by the Gamesmaster. A weapon can be voluntarily dropped without difficulty in the space of an Action. This Action requires a Deftness Ability Saving Throw while Engaged. Survey and Command This Action allows the character to observe what is going on around him. Normally a character will observe only what is in front of him. This Action also allows the character to make a short coherent statement to other characters without using the normal rules for communication in Detailed Action Time. This Action may not be performed while Engaged. Jump - This Action allows the character to execute a jump under the following restriction: To qualify for a running version of a jump the character must satisfy the conditions of charging. The character does not get the normal one meter move associated with an Action. The character may add the result of a Strength Group Effect Die roll to his Current Strength for the distance calculation i f he makes a Strength Critical Saving Throw.
The Gamesmaster can calculate the distance covered during each phase in the characters Action by dividing the total distance covered by the characters PCA number. Players should be required to commit their characters to jumping before they roll the Critical Saving Throw to see if they will get any extra distance. Alter Postion This Action is performed when a character changes position from prone, kneeling or sitting to standing. It is also used when a character changes position from standing to prone and used thus eliminates the necessity for the character to a Saving Throw against winding himself. A character not using this Action to go prone is subject to the rules for falling. No movement on the DAT Display is allowed. The character is assumed to stand in the hex in which his feet are located. During the phases in which the Action is performed a character is considered moving for the purposes of any missile weapons targeted at him. This Action requires a Speed Ability Saving Throw if utilized while Engaged. Perform a Function This Action allows the character to apply any Skill other than a Combat Skill. As with Reloading, the number of times the Action must be applied will vary. This should be adjudicated by the Gamesmaster. Reloading, drawing or sheathing a weapon, and such other simple functions as are allowed by the Gamesmaster may be attempted while moving instead of using an Action to perform them. At the phase on which the character would have resolved the Action, the character must make a Deftness Saving Throw in order to besuccessful.The level of the Saving Throw and any modifiers to it areat the discretion of the Gamesmaster.
THE LAST SHOP OPTION

If a character who has a loaded and ready missile weapon finds that he is going to be put in Engaged status by another character before his Base Action Phase. the missile-armed character may elect to fire using the last shot option when the character who is closing in on him enters the Point Blank range for the weapon. This shot will be resolved at that point. The character who elects this option will thereby already be committing himself to a Fire Weapon Action as the next Action he undertakes. He must begin it on his Base Action Phase. He essentially does nothing because his Action has already occurred. The missile firing character will receivea modification to his BCS equal to the difference between the phase that the shot is resolved on and his Base Action Phase. The last shot option does not apply to characters who initiate a Fire Weapon Action and who will be Engaged before their shot is resolved. If they are in Engaged status by the time the phase for resolution arrives in the countdown, a Deftness Ability Saving Throw is required for the character to be able to get off the shot. If the characters planning allowed an enemy to get that close at that point in time, the character must pay the price.
FIRING WHILE MOVING

Characters using guns and crossbows are allowed to fire while moving. Shots arespaced as i f thecharacter had used a Fire Weapon Action. All shots are subject to the hip fire penalty and an additional penalty based on movement. For specifics see the Gun rules in Book 2.
Vertical, standing STR AST/(6 x Mass), up STR/(9 x Mass), UP Vertical, running These distances are in meters above the characters head. Broad, standing STR AST/Mass, up Broad, running STR/mass, up These distances are in meters.
COMMUNICATION IN DAT
Once DAT is begun characters must utilize appropriate Actions to communicate information among themselves. TO simulate the confusion and independent action common to people in stress situations the Gamesmaster should rigidily enforce these communication limitations. I t gives a more
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realistic result than allowing the players ten minutes t o coordinate acitons which will be happening in a game time frame of six seconds. Such attempts on the players part should result in the tactical discussion by the players being taken out of DAT and put into Real Time where such discussion timed and added to the game time that the players are consuming. The Survey and Command Action allows the greatest freedom of communication. The player should be allowed to communicate a coherent sentence. Most other Actions will allow a character to communicate one word per phase. When the character is, in one phase, moving distances greater than his base BMA much more than one or two words should not be allowed for each PCA period of phases. The player may state whether such communications are shouted, spoken or whispered. The Gamesmaster should be careful to take into account prevailing conditions and how they will affect the stated communication. Gunfire in a confined space is notorious for putting a damper on polite conversaton.
COMBAT PROCEDURE
The basic procedure for Combat is straightforward. The attacking characters Basic Chance of Success in the Combat Skill that is being applied is modified by Restrictions, Distractions, Situational Modifiers and the opponents Defensive Ability. The player then rolls 1D20. If the number falls in the modified range the opponent has been hit. I f not, he has been missed. Oncetheopponent is hit the player determines his Damage Potential white the Gamesmaster determines the Location of the hit. The Armor Value of the protection that the opponent is wearing is subtracted from the characters Damage Potential and the result is the damage applied to the opponent. A die roll of 1 always hits except in the case of the hopeless attack. A die roll of 20 always misses. Under most circumstances these die rolls indicate a Critical Hit and a Critical Miss, respectively. A flowchart of the combat procedures is provided in Appendix 2.
BCS Each Distraction -1 Each Restriction -1 Target is prone. +2 Attacker is prone.. -10 +2 Target is sitting or kneeling Attacker is sitting or kneeling -5 Attacking to a Side or Long Side hex -5 Attacking from a Side or Long Side hex ........ +5 Attacking to a Rear hex,. -10 +10 Attacking from a Rear hex Attacking from a superior position such as a table or stairs, etc. +1 Attacking from an inferior position such as the reverse of the above -1 In Dim light -3 In Poor light*.. -5 -9 In Darkness or Partially blind*. Totally blind.. -12 -2 Attacker is over 50% wounded. -4 Attacker is over 75% wounded. These also apply when using missile weapons.
SITUATION MODIFIER TABLE HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT SITUATION
............................... ............................... ............................... ............................ .................... ................... ............ ...................... .................... ........................... ........................ ................................... ................................. .................. ................................ ................. .................
MISSILE WEAPONS
Situation BCS Hip fire use Average BCS -(damage taken/2) Damaged in that Combat Turn -1 to all shots Firing a gun in each hand.. Surprised -2 Shooting at a newly acquired target ............. -2 In firing stance.. +1 +1 Braced weapon (requires firing stance) Sighted in (requires stance) +1 Shooting out a side hex.. -2 Shooting out a Rear hex -4
......................... . ......... ...................................... .............................. ......... .................... ....................... ........................
CONDUCTING AN ATTACK
To conduct an attack the player states to the Gamesmaster what Combat Skill the character is using and whether any secondary strikes will be attempted. This is done when the character initiates the attack. The primary strike (the only one if there is no secondary strike) uses the full Basic Chance of Success (BCS) and the secondary strike uses the average BCS. This is the Base BCS. The Base BCS if then modified by the Restrictions due to positioning on the DAT Display. It is further modified by an Distractions present. The above can be determined by the player. The player and Gamesmaster jointly determine if there are any situational Modifiers. This is done jointly because while some of the modifiers will be perfectly obvious, there may be modifiers, k n o w n t o t h e Gamesmaster, of which the character is unaware. The Gamesmaster will then subtract the Overall Defense Ability of the defender. This yield the Adjusted BCS which i s the number which the player must roll less than or equal to on 1D20 in order to hit the defender.
THE HOPELESS ATTACK ADJUSTED BCS LESS THAN 1 With an Adjusted BCS less than 1, the player must roll a 1 on 1D20 to have a chance to hit. If hedoes roll a1 ,he must roll
1D20 again. If the second die roll is less than or equal to his Base BCS, he will hit his target. A 1 on thesecond die roll will indicate a Critical Hit.
ADJUSTED BCS EQUAL TO 1

In this case, a die roll of 1 on 1020 requires asecond roll of 1D20. If the second die roll is less than or equal to the characters Base BCS, a Critical Hit is scored. Otherwise the hit is only a normal hit.
ADJUSTED BCS GREATER THAN 1

This is the standard case. A die roll of 1 indicates a Critical Hit. A die roll less than or equal to the Adjusted BCS indicates a hit on the defender. Any other roll indicates failure to strike the defender. A die roll of 20 indicates a Critical Miss.
RESULTS OF A HIT
Once the player has made the appropriate die roll and the Gamesmaster has announced that a hit has been made, the Gamesmaster will determinethe Location of the hit by rolling 1D100 and consulting the table and Location maps below. If the Location indicated by the die roll is considered to have a covering barrier between the attacker and it, the attack must penetrate the barrier before any results can be applied to the target. The effects of barriers on a guns Bullet Damage Group and the effective Strength Group for other
SITUATIONAL MODIFIERS
These Situational Modifiers are given as a guideline for the Gamesmaster in determining what kind of modifications should be made. It would be impossible to list all the potential situations that characters can get themselves into in the course of an adventure. It is up to the Gamesmaster, in the end, to determine what Situational Modifiers apply and their value. Discretion is advised.
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HIT LOCATION TABLES

BIPEDAL
DIOO 1-4 5-8 9-1 1 12-20 21-29 30-38 39-47 48-53 54-59 60-65 66-69 70-74 75-80 81-86 87-93 94-98 99-00
QUADRUPEDAL
D100 1-4 5-1 2 13-20 21-28 29-36 37-44 45-48 49-56 57-64 65-72 73-80 81-88 89-92 93-96 97-00
LOC 1 2 3 4/5 6/7 8/9 io11 1 12 21/22 23/24 25/26 27/28 29/30 13/14 15/16 17/18 19/20
LOC
1 2 3/4 5/6/7 18/17 20119 22/21 8/9/10 11/12/13 14/15/16 24/23 26/25 28/27 29 30
a re
MOD IF1CAT1ONS
Bipedal from above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . from below . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quadrupedal from the front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . from the rear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
-5 +5
Where the location result gives more than one possibility for the exact result, 1D100 is rolled and the table below is consulted to give the exact location. Attack from Front or Rear
X/Y 50% either location X / Y I Z 1-40141 -ao/gi -00
-5
+5
Attack from Side

X/ 1-70 nearest side Y 71-00 furthest side
These values may be altered by the Gamesmaster as he sees fit. A long quadruped might have a modification of 10 rather than 5.
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X/ 1-60 nearest side Y/ 61 -70 furthest side Z 71-00 underbelly

If the target is using a presented or refused positioning, treat attacks from the side as attacks from the front or rear and vice versa.
missile weapons and Hand-to-hand weapons are given on the section o n Barriers on page 46. These modifications must be made before the Damage Potential may be determined.
Subdual (S) -This type of damage is not immediately lethal in effect. Crushing (C) - This type of damage is done by weapons which rely on smashing power to cause damage. The actual Damage Done is 3 points of Subdual and 1 point of Lethal for every 4 points inflicted. That is, every fourth point inflicted is Lethal while the rest is Subdual. Combination (B) This type of damage is done by massive weapons which has some edges or points such as spiked maces. The Damage Done is divided evenly between Subdual and Lethal. That is, every second point inflicted is Lethal while the rest is Subdual. Ode points are thus Subdual.
DAMAGE POTENTIAL
Once it has been established that a hit has been made, the player may determine the characters Damage Potential for that hit. If it is a Critical Hit, the normal Damage Potential is altered. The exact changes are dealt with in the section o n Critical Hits. The calculation of the Damage Potential will vary by the weapon system in use. 0 Hand-to-hand weapons - Each such weapon is rated for a Weapon Damage Multiplier (WDM). Each character has an Effect Die in accordance with his effective Strength Group. The characterk Effect Die is rolled and the resulting number is multiplied by the Weapon Damage Multiplier. The result of this calculation is the Damage Potential. Guns - Each round fired from a gun is rated for a Bullet Damage Group (BDG). The BDG of each round striking the same Location on thesame Action Phase is totaled. This number is divided by IO. The resultant number when rounded up yields the number of DlOs of damage and the number rounded to the nearest is the addition to the number of points of Damage Potential rolled on those DlOs. Damage Potential equals (BDG/10, up) in DlOs + (BDG/10, nearest) in points of damage Muscle powered missile weapons - Each kind of weapon in this category varies and the specifics are given with the description of the Skill required to use the weapon. Bascially, the Damage Potential is calculated as for Hand-to-hand weapons but Strength Group is modified for range rather than for position on the DAT Display.
It is important to note that if the adjusted Damage Potential does not exceed the Armor Value of the target Location, there is no Critical Effect due to a Critical Hit or a Missile Special Effect.
The effects of injury and the healing of damage are dealt with in the appropriate sections starting on page 36. A fifth type of damage known as Critical Damage may result from a Critical Hit. This indicates immediate disabling damage. It is not added into the current total of damage.
IMPALEMENT
All thrusts have a chance of Impalement. The percentage chance is equal to the Damage Potential. If Impalement occurs the Gamesmaster will treat it as if a Missile Special Effect had occurred. See below.
MISSILE SPECIAL EFFECTS

Whenever a character is struck by a missile weapon there is a chance of a Missile Special Effect occurring. The percent chance of an occurrance is equal to the adjusted bullet Damage Group if the weapon is a gun and it is equal to the Damage Potential if the weapon is a muscle powered missile weapon. If the number rolled on 1DlOO is less then or equal to the required number, than a Missile Special Effect will occur and the table below should be consulted. Modifications to the Adjusted BDG i n order to determine whether Missile Special Effects occur may arise due to the ammunition in use. Similar modifications may apply to muscle powered missile weapons. Such modifications will be presented with the description of the ammunition or weapon.
DAMAGE DONE
Once the Damage Potential and the hit Location is known, the actual damage done can be calculated. The Armor Value that the target of the hit has at the Location hit is subtracted from the Damage Potential to yield the Damage Done.
MISSILE SPECIAL EFFECTS TABLE D100 RESULT

1-20 N o special effect 21-30 Flesh wound: damage is adjusted to 1 point and this only if the Armor Value on the target location is exceeded. 31-45 Minor wound: 1 point of damage caused. This supercedes any normal results. This effect on a Critical Hit results in normal damage. 46-65 Normal damage and Stopping. 66-75 As 46-65 plus a Daze effect (see Critical Hit Effect Explanations) . 76-85 As 66-75 plus a Stun effect (see Critical Hit Effect Explant ions). 86-95 As 76-85 plus a roll on the Critical Effect Table. 96-00 As 86-95 but add 30 to the roll o n the Critical Effects Table.
SYSTEM SHOCK
If the Damage Done exeeds the Shock Factor (SF) of the recipient, he issubject toacheckforSystemShock Toavoid System Shock, the character must make a Health Ability Saving Throw. If he fails he will fall unconsciousfora number of Combat Turns equal to 50 -Health of the character. The Shock Factor for humans is set at 10. Player Characters and Personality Non-Player Characters may add their Healing Rate to their Shock Factor. T h r Shock Factor for non-human species is given with their other statistics.
TYPES OF DAMAGE
Each type of weapon or damage-causing attack is rated for the type of damage caused. If there is no specification then the damage done is assumed to be Lethal. Lethal (L) -This is the type of damage done by edged and pointed weapons. Most weapons in this classification may be used to produce Crushing type damage when used with the flat. When this is done the normal Weapon Damage Multiplier is halved.
STOPPING
The effect number for Stopping is equal to the Adjusted BDG (used to determine if a Special Effect would occur) or the Damage Potential for muscle powered missile weapons and Impalements divided by the Mass of the target. I F > l Knock back for 2D3 meters. A Deftness Ability Saving Throw is required to prevent being knocked down. Each two meters of knock back will drop a target one category for purposes of stopping forward motion.
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IF>5 As above but a Critical Saving Throw is required for the character to keep his feet. IF>lO As above but knock down is automatic. IF< 1 The O/O chance of getting a result as if the effect number were equal to 1 is the Adjusted BDG (used to determine if Missile Special Effects would occur) divided by the Mass of the target multiplied by 100.
CRITICAL HITS
When a Critical Hit has occurred the Gamesmasterwill roll on the appropriate Critical Hit Enhancement Table to determine the increase to the Damage Potential.
automatically put the character into System Shock. A Health Ability Saving Throw is required for the character to survive the cauterization. Sever results due to things which do not cut are considered to have broken the bone. If the character fails a Health Ability Saving Throw, the result will be a compound fracture and he will be subject to bleeding to death, as if a normal Sever result had occurred. LETHAL -To head, neck or torso: Death To a limb: Automatic Sever Player Characters and Personality Non-Player Characters are allowed a Health Ability Saving Throw to lowerthe Effect to the next less lethal category.
CRITICAL HIT ENHANCEMENT TABLES HAND-TO-HAND AND MUSCLE POWERED MISSILE WEAPONS
D20 1-9 10-15 16-19 20 Enhancement +1 to WDM +2 to WDM +3 to WDM +4 to WDM
CRITICAL MISSES GUNS

Pistol Rifle Burst
+ 1DlO to BDG + 2D10 to BDG all rounds hit plus the effect of 1D3 additional rounds.
Once the Damage Done is calculated, the Gamesmaster will roll on the Critical Effect Table if the Damage Potential has exceeded the Armor Value of the hit location. The Gamesmaster should add the Damage Done to the DlOO that is rolled to determine Critical Effect.
CRITICAL EFFECT TABLE

D100 EFFECT 1-30 No special effect. 31-55 Daze. 56-75 Stun. 76-87 Disable. 88-95 Trauma. 96-00 Lethal. DAZE-The characters BCS and ODA are at 1/2 value until after the Action Phase on the next CombatTurn which has the same number as the phase on which the effect occurred. STUN As above but the character may not initiate any attacks or fire any weapons. Additionally the characters Deftness and Speed are reduced to 1/2 value for that time period and the character will be treated as Dazed for the following Combat Turn. DISABLE - This is a numbing effect. If received in a limb, the character will lose the use of that limb for the rest of the combat. Health Ability Saving Throws may be made each hour of game time in order to regain use of the limb. If received in the head, neck or body thecharacter must make Health Saving Throw. Failure indicates a System Shock. Asave in the Ability range meansthecharacter will be Stunned for the rest of the combat. A save in the Critical range means that the character will be Dazed for the rest of the combat, A Health Ability Saving Throw can be attempted each hour of game time in order to eliminate these effects. TRAUMA - The Damage Done is Critical Damage. The also receives one half the Damage Done as regular Lethal damage. A Health Ability Saving Throw is required or the character also receives a Disable Effect. The Critical Damage is also the percent chance of a Sever Effect. Severs to the head or neck are Death Blows. All other Severs will cause the character to bleed to death in a number of Combat Turns equal to the characters Health Group plus 1D6 unless cauterized or bandaged with a First Aid Skill BCS roll. Cauterization Will
When the die roll for any attack is 20, there is a chance of a Critical Miss. The Gamesmaster will request that the player make a Control Throw for the character to avoid a Critical Miss. If the Adjusted BCS of the attack exceeded 20, the number required for the Control Throw may be increased by the Adjusted BCS minus 20 at the discretion of the Gamesmaster. Such circumstances will; at least with Handto-hand and muscle powered missile weapons, allow a Control Throw for a character who would not normally have one. If the character fails the Control Throw, theappropriate Critical Effect Table should be consulted. If a character is ignoring the distraction of friendly characters, in his Zone of Influence if using Hand-to-hand weapons or in the line of fire if using missile weapons, the result that normally indicates no Critical Effect means that he has automatically scored a successful hit on one of the friendly characters who qualified as a Distraction. The character to be struck should be determined at random.
CRITICAL MISS EFFECTS TABLES ARMED COMBAT

D l 0 0 RESULT 1-10 No effect. 11-40 Character is Dazed. 41-70 Character is Stunned. 71-80 Character falls. 81-90 Weapon breaks. 91-00 Character drops weapon.
UNARMED COMBAT/NATURAL ATTACK

D100 RESULT 1-10 No effect. 11-40 Character is Dazed. 41-70 Character is Stunned. 71-80 Mode of attack (hand, foot, jaws, etc.) receives a Disable result with 1D6 of Critical Damage. 81-00 Character falls.
BOW AND CROSSBOW

DlOO RESULT 1-10 No effect. 11-40 String breaks. 41-80 Arrow breaks. 81-00 Bow breaks.
FIREARMS, BLACK POWDER

D1CO RESULT 1-10 No effect. 11-40 Primer flash. Primer is expended but the round is still good. 41-70 Main load is a dud. Primer and powder for round are expended. Gun must be reloaded.
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71-85 Cook-off. Appears to be a dud round. It will go off on the bookkeeping phase. There is a 50% chance of it going off if there is an attempt to remove it before Action Phase 0. If it goes off, treat as i f it were a chamber explosion as below. 86-95 Chamber explosion. Burst effect of BDG of the round/30, nearest. Burst effect minus the Durability of the weapon is the number of DlOs of Lethal Damage done to the characters Location that is nearest to the breech of the gun. If the number of DlOs is less than 1, reduce the Durability of the gun by 1 and treat as if the main load was a dud. If the number is greater than or equal to 1 (the chamber actually does explode), thegun is Disrepaired with a chance (equal to the number of DlOs) in 6 of it being Junked. 96-00 Chamber explosion as above but burst effect is BDG of the round/20, nearest.
FIREARMS, MODERN DlOO RESULT 1-10 No effect. 11-40 Dud round. Autoloaders and autoweapons require 1 Action to manually clear the round. Other types clear with the next round, no special action is necessary. 41-70 Jammed round. Requires 2 Actions to clear manually. A weapon with an extractor will clear in 1 Action. 71-85 Cook-off. See Black Powder firearms. 86-95 Chamber explosion. Burst effect is BDG of the round/30, nearest. 96-00 Chamber explosion. Burst effect of the round is BDG/20, nearest.
his weapon system tostop theattack. Thesignificanceof this will vary due to the weapon system actually used for defense. A character using Weapon and Shield Skill will have the shield struck in these circumstances. A character using a Skill involving a weapon will have the weapon struck. A character with two weapons will have the secondary weapon struck. A character using a Skill without a weapon will take the blow on the forearm (usually of his offhand arm). WEAPONS - The difference between the weapons Survival Values is the chance in twenty that the weaker weapon will break. A character may continue to defend with a broken weapon but his Weapon Defense Ability will be halved, rounded down. Attacks with a broken weapon are not allowed. A weapons Survival Value is the sum of two factors. One is based on the weapons size and the other on its construction. The second is a number equal to the Armor Value of Plate in the corresponding material. Wood has a value of 3 and reinforcing it with metal will increase its value according to the normal reinforcing rules for armor. The factor based on size can begotten from the accompanying table. Weapon Size Factor 0 Close Average 1 2 Long Extra Long 3 SHIELDS - If a shield is struck by a missile weapon, the shield user must make a Deftness Ability Saving Throw or the weapon will become lodged in the shield and add to the Encumbrance of the shield. Bullets will reduce a shield by one class if the Effective BDG exceeds the overall Barrier Effect of the shield by three times its value. Muscle powered missile weapons and Hand-tohand weapons will reduce a shield by one class if the Damage Potential, when generated as if a hit had been scored, is greater than the overall Barrier Effect of the shield. THE BODY - If the striking weapons Survival Value exceeds the Armor Value on the Location of the block the target character will receive the difference in Lethal damage. Missile weapons are only germaine to shields as they cannot be defended against by Weapon Defense Ability. Some shields do have an add to the Overall Defensive Ability and this addition functions as Weapon Defense Ability under these circumstances.
GENERAL NOTES O N COMBAT PROCEDURE The preceeding provides a basic guide to the procedure
for combat. Certain details involving particular weapon systems are presented in the section where the weapon is discussed. This has been done to maintain the flow of the explanation of combat i n general and to keep pertinent information that is peculiar to a given weapon system i n one easy-to-reference place. Players are strongly encouraged to be familiar with the mechanics covering the weapon systems that they choose for their characters as this will make the Gamesmasters job easier. Fledgling Gamesmasters should also be advisednot to have non-player characters using weapon systems that the Gamesmaster is not ready to handle. It will slow play tremendously. Other details of certain forms of combat, as well ascombat and movement in other environments, are also dealt with in separate sections for similar reasons. These include such things as horses and mounted combat, swimming and in or under water combat, and specific sections dealing with optional additions to Detailed Action Time combat.
BASHING
When a greater effective mass strikes a lesser, a Bash may occur. This can occur from a large animal striking a human, a human striking a smaller animal, a charging horseman striking or overrunning an opponent, etc. The chance in 20 of a Bash occuring is equal to the larger effective mass minus the smaller. If the Bash ocurs, this samedifference is used as an effect number and the Bashed character is treated as if he had received Stopping from a Missile Special Effect.
OPTION
THE CLASH OF WEAPONS
This section deals with the circumstances arising when an attack fails to strike the opponent himself and is only stopped by his skill with the weapon system he is using to defend himself. The basic mechanic works as follows: the last thing to be subtracted from the attackers Base BCS is the opponents Weapon Defense Ability. If the players die roll is such that, if the Weapon Defense Ability had not been subtracted from the Base BCS to give the Adjusted BCS,it would have indicated a hit, it means that the opponent used
OPTION SPECIAL EFFECT

In human to humancombat, theGamesmaster may allow a Bash to occur i f the character has successfully hit his opponent and the attackers Mass plus his weapons Size Factor (see above) exceeds his opponents Mass. The difference would be the chance in twenty of a Bash occuring.
DELIBERATE KNOCKDOWN
A character may deliberately attempt to knockdown another character. This is accomplished by moving into the hex occupied by the second character and comparing the
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.. .. .
.... ..
~~
~~~.
~~
Strength Group Effect Die rolls of both characters. The character with the greater effective Mass may add the difference in the masses to his die roll. The difference in the modified die roll results is treated as an Effect Number and the lower rolling character receives a Stopping Result. Ifthe Effect Number is 0 then the characters are occupying the same hex. Each will be unable to perform an Action for a number of phases equal to his Phases Consumed in Action number or until the end of the Combat Turn whichever is shorter. In any case,if the second character was in the process of performing an action, he will resolve that Action at the usual time with a negative BCS modification equal to the Effective Mass of the character attempting to knock him down.
GRAPPLING
Grappling is a form of rough and tumble, close-in fighting. A character does not need to exercise a Skill in order to Grapple. A Deftness Ability Saving Throw is required to perform a Grapple. If the player r o l l s a l when making thedie roll, he may choose the general location of the Grapple. I f the Grapple attempt fails, the player must make another Ability Saving Throw; this time using Speed; to avoid having the character fall down. If the player rolls a 20 on the Grapple attempt, the character automatically falls down. When a Grapple attempt is successful, the Gamesmaster will roll for Hit Location as if a normal hit had been scored. The exact Location and the General Location are both of import. That is the head, neck, torso, right or left arm and the right or left leg is of signifigance. as well as the exact Location on the body map. A Grapple to the arm will allow an attempt to disarm the target. The Grappler will roll the Effect Die for his effective Strength Group. The targets Armor Value on the exact Location is subtracted from the die roll. The result is the chance in 20 that the target must make a Strength Ability Saving Throw in order to retain his grip on whatever he is holding in his hand. If the target makes his Saving Throw, the grapple is not broken and the Grappler may roll his Effect Die again at the end of his next Action unless he initiates a new attempt to Grapple in the hope of getting a Grapple o n a more useful Location or he initiates some other Action. A Grapple to the leg indicates a takedown attempt. Each characters will roll their Effect Die. If the Grappler rolls higher, the target will fall down. I f the target rolls higher, there is no effect. If both roll the same number, each must roll a Speed Ability Saving Throw to avoid falling down. The Grappler is not considered to have maintained a hold on the target at the end of a takedown attempt regardless of its results. He must initiate a new attempt to Grapple on his next Action, if he wishes to continue in his efforts to subdue his opponent by Grappling with him. A Grapple to the head, neck or torso indicates a hug or choke. A torso Location result will cover both of the Locations level of the body map. For example, a Location to point 4 will cover both 4 and 5. The attack will be against the less effective armor covering the Locations attacked. This kind of Grapple is a constriction attack and armor defends according to the rules on page 17. Any damage done is subdual. The Grappler is assumed to keep his hold on the target unless it is broken or he voluntarily relinquishes it in order to seek a new grip or perform some other Action. As long as the Grapple is maintained, the Grappler may roll his Effect Die at the end of each Action. A character who has an arm Grappled may not use that arm to perform an Action. That is he may not strike the Grappler with it or use askill or weapon requiring two hands. A character whose head, neck or torso is subject to a Grapple may not move. When a character is considered Grappled he has several options:
He may execute an Action in an attempt to break the hold of the Grappler. On the last phase of the Action, the character must make a Strength Ability Saving Throw in order t o break the Grapplers hold. When his is done the Grappler must make a Strength Ability Saving Throw himself to maintain the hold. If the Grappler fails the Strenth Saving Throw, he must make a Speed Ability Saving Throw to avoid falling down. If the Grappler releases his hold before the victims resolution phase arrives, the victim may abort the attempt to break the hold, as it is unnecessary, and he may initiate an Action on the phase that the Grappler releases the hold. He may make an attempt to break the hold using Brawling Combat Skill at full BCS. This will only break the hold. It will not cause damage. He may make an attack to cause normal damage using Brawling Combat Skill at -5 to the BCS. He may attack the Grappler using another Combat Skill. The BCS receives a penalty of 50% or -5, whichever is greater, plus any situational modifiers. A character attempting to use a Missile Combat Skill also receives this modification to the Deftness Ability Saving Throw required to fire while in Engaged status. When one character has a hold on another, either may opt to fall down at the start of any Action. This will automatically bring the other character down as well. Each character must have 1D6 rolled for him. The higher roll indicates that the corresponding character has landed on top. In the case of a tie, the character who initiated the fall will be on top. The character on top adds the difference in the Mass of the two characters to the number needed for his Saving Throw (See Falls in Detailed Action Time, below) while the character on the bottom will subtract the difference from the number needed.
FALLS IN DETAILED ACTION TIME

Whenever a character alters position from more of less vertical to horizontal without taking an Action to do so, a Health Saving Throw must be made. I f the die result falls in the characters Critical Saving Throw range there will be no effect. If it falls in thecharacters Ability Saving Throw range, the character will be Dazed for one Combat Turn. A Critical failure, a die roll of 20, indicates that the character has lost consciousness. He will remain unconscious until the controlling player rolls a successful Health Ability Saving Throw for the character. This may be attempted o n the bookkeeping phase of each Combat Turn, beginning on the turn after the one on which the character lost consciousness. Upon waking up, the characterwill be Dazed forone Combat Turn. Whenever a character falls more than 2 meters, he will be subject to potentially moreserious effects. For each 2 meters of fall the character will receive l D l O of subdual damage. The number of meters fallen is chance in 20 of a Critical Effect occuring. When rolling on the Critical Hit Effects Table, one half of the distance fallen in meters, rounded down, is added to the 1Dl00. I f the Critical Effect is Location dependant 1D100 should be rolled and the Hit Location Table consulted. At his discretion, the Gamesmaster may add to or subtract from the die roll depending on whether the character is falling head or feet first.
EFFECTS OF WATER ON MOVEMENT AND COMBAT

There are three general situations where water will have effects on movement and combat. These occur when the character is ON the water in some form of boat, when the
32
character is actually IN the water, and when the character is UNDER the water.
Any attacks made using a weapon in a strike attack form will reduce the characters effective Strength by 25% for purposes of determining the Effect Die.
ON T H E WATER
A character on the water will be on some form of platform which can range from a raft to a large ocean going ship. Whether the roll of the waves has any effect will depend on the roughness of the water and the size of the platform. As this is highly variable, it is left t o the Gamesmaster to decide if the situation will call for the following rules to be applied. When the platform is affected by the water on which it rides, characters must make a Seamanship Skill roll on each Combat Turn if the effect on the platform is significant. With less significant effects, a longer time period may be allowed between rolls. A character may substitute a Natural Talent roll if he has no score in Seamanship Skill or hisTalent score exceeds his Seamanship BCS. Once the roll is successfully made, the character will suffer no ill effects for that time period. Failure to make the roll will cause the characters.effective Deftness and Speed scores to be dropped by 25%. Critical failure will drop them by50%. In both cases, all footing will be considered Treacherous Ground. Any character without Seamanship Skill will be subject to seasickness when the platform is affected by water. A Health Saving Throw .must be made. If the die roll is in the Critical Saving Throw range, the character will feel no effects. If it is in the Ability Saving Throw range, he will have his effective Wit, Will, Deftness and Speed Attributes reduced by 25%. All of his Basic Chances of Success will be reduced by 2. If the die roll indicates failure, those Attributes listed above will be reduced by 50% and all BCSs will receive a -4 modification. A critical failure will indicate that the character is overcome by sickness for the duration of the period in which the platform is affected. Whenever the platform is affected and the character wishes to exercise any Skill requiring physical exertion, the characters Basic Chance of Success in that Skill should be averaged with his BCS in Seamanship Skill to get a base BCS. The averaged BCS is not allowed to exceed the characters base BCS in the Skill he is attempting to utilize. If the characters Natural Talent score exceeds his Seamanship BCS he may use the Talent score to average with the Skill BCS to give the base BCS.
GOING UNDER
Whenever a character has gone under, he must make a Health Ability Saving Throw or take 2D6 points of subdual damage from swallowing water. A character who exceeds his Damage Resistance Total in this fashion will become unconscious. If a characters die result is 20. he will immediately become unconscious. Once unconscious, the character will receive 2D6 additional points of damage each Combat Turn. When this additional damage exceeds the value of the characters Damage Resistance Total, the character has drowned.
FLOATING
The time period for checks to see if a character has remained afloat will vary due to water conditions. This is left for the Gamesmaster to adjudicate. To prevent going under, the character must make a Swimming Skill BCS or a Critical Saving Throw based on the average of the characters effective Strength and effective Health. The character may use whichever value will give him the best chance. A full life jacket will add 12 to the score needed, a life vest or ring will add 10 and other objects such as inflated bladders, drums or wreckage will add 5.
UNDER T H E WATER
Movement under the water is the same as for movement in the water. Naturally, if the character has some sort of air supply, it will not matter if he goes under. This does not refer to holding ones breath. A character may hold his breath for a number of Combat Turns equal to: 6 x Health Group + Effect Die for Will Group The die roll for the Will Group should be made by the Gamesmaster and not revealed to the player. A character who is active while holding his breath will use up his stored oxygen at the rate of 2 Combat Turns for each Combat turn that he is active. Jan is moving through a submerged tunnel system. She has a Health Group of 3 and a Will Group of 2. This means she can hold her breath fora minimum of 19 Combat Turns while inactive and a m i n i m u m o f 9 while active. Secretly the Gamesmaster rolls 1 0 3 for her when she submerges. The result is 2. He now knows her maximum time is 20 Combat Turns. Jan swims through a tunnel for 8 Combat Turns. This puts her at the end of the tunnel. A check for discovery of Hidden Things expends 1 Turn at inactive rate. The roll is successful and reveals a guard pacing the shore. Jan has now been holding her breath for an effective time of 17 Combat Turns. The player decides that Jan will stay under hoping that the guard will leave before she runs out of breath. By doing this she risks unconsciousness and possible drowning. Two more Combat Turns pass before the guard leaves. On the next Turn Jan surfaces, lungs aching and panting for breath. Under water a characters effective Strength when using a thrusting weapon will be reduced 25%. If he is using a weapon with astrikeattack form hiseffectivestrength will be reduced 50%. Hand held weapons will have modifications to the Basic Chance of Success dependent on the attack form and the size of the weapon. These are listed in the table below. The modifications for thrust attacks replace the normal thrust BCS modifications.
IN T H E WATER
Movement in water will be affected by the relative depth of the water. A check of the table below will give the depth groupings for water and the effect on the Base Movement Allowance.
Depth
to to to to ankles knees waist chest
BMA
1 0.5 0.25 0.1
notes
Treacherous Ground Treacherous Ground Treacherous Ground Treacherous Ground or character may swim
over head
character must swim
Swimming must be performed for an Action. A character may make one 60 degree change of facing during each Action. A character without Swimming Skill will have a Base Movement Allowance of 0.1 but must still roll 1D20 for each Action spent swimming. A result of 20 indicates that the character has gone under. A character with Swimming Skill will have a Base Movement Allowance of 0.25. If, when he rolls 1D20 during the Action spent swimming, the result is within his Basic Chance of Success, his Base Movement Allowance will be0.5. A die roll of 20 will call for the character to roll 1020 again. If the roll exceeds the characters Basic Chance of Success in Swimming Skill or is 20 again, the character has gone under.
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Weapon Length
short average long extra long
Strike BCS mod.

-1 -2 -4 -8
Thrust BCS mod. +2

+1
+O
-1
OTHER NOTES O N WATER

Visibility in the water varies tremendous according to the clarity of the water, motion conditions and the amount of light available. The Gamesmaster should decide on what the visibility will be when the characters enter the water. It will rarely be above thirty meters and will frequently be less than 4. A character without a face mask or goggles would have about one half the vision range of a character who is equipped with such devices. Sound travels extremely well in water at a speed of 1.5 kilometers per second. Gamesmaster should take this into account when handling adventures under water. For game purposes, objects with a negative bouyancy will sink at a rate of 3 meters per Combat Turn. A character with neutral bouyancy (properly weighted for under water work) can move freely in either the vertical or horizontal plane. A character with positive buoyancy (unencumbered) moves horizontally at normal rates and will rise 2 meters per Combat Turn. , Against missile weapons, water will act as a barrier. Each meter of water will add one range step to a muscle powered missile weapon. The air-water interface and the first meter of water will reduce a bullets BDG by 10. Each successive meter of water will reduce the BDG further by 5.
initiating another Action. Whenever a character attempts to use a Combat Skill while mounted, he must average hisscore in the Combat Skill with his score in Beast Riding Skill. This will allow him to determine his modified BCS for the Attack according to the rules presented on page 11. This modified BCS is still subject to Restriction, Distraction, Situational Modifiers and the opponents defense. While mounted a riders Combat Dodge Ability is altered. He will have the Combat Dodge Ability value of the mount plus one-half of his own normal value rounded down. His Weapon Defense Ability will be based on his averaged score. A rider/mount combination moving at a Base Movement Allowance greater than 1 will not be halted by an enemys Active Zone. Only 1 free attack per opponent is allowed in 1 Action Phase even if the path taken by the mount goes through more than one of the hexes in the opponents Zone of Influence.
THE HORSE
The most common mount for a man is the horse. The statistics for an average horse are given here: STR DFT SPD HLH BAP MNA PCA CDA DRT 30 14 24 24 12 2 6 2 60 AV SF ENCCAP MASS 3 32 12 12 Attack modes: WDM Length BCS Notes S 7 minus 1 STR Group Teeth 1.5L Hoof, unshod 1.5C A 10 2 attackswhen used and a WDA equal 1.7C A Hoof, shod to 3 A horse has four gaits and each gait has its own Base Movement Allowance. The horse may change a gait to the next slower or faster one at the start of any Action. It must proceed at that speed until the next Action. At any gait with a Base Movement Allowance of greater than 1 only one facing change of 60 degrees per Action is allowed. At these gaits, the horse must move its Base Movement Allowance on each Action Phase. A Speed Ability Saving Throw by an uncontrolled horse will allow it to change to 2 gait classes slower if necessary. A Critical failure will result in the horse falling. When the horse is controlled, the riders Beast Riding Skill BCS must first be made. A die roll of 1 for the Horses Saving Throw or the riders BCS will allow the gait to be reduced a step further. Eff. Mass Gaits BMA Mod. Notes Walk 1 x ,251 May start and stop on any phase Trot 2 x .5 2 in 10 chance of slipping per Action on Treacherous ground Canter 4 xl 4 in 10 chance as above Gallop 6 x 1.5 6 in 10 chance as above A horses effective Combat Dodge Ability for purposes of incoming missile fire is his BMA times his normal CDA. A horse must be moving at a Walk gait before initiating an Attack Action. Fire directed at the rider suffers the same penalty.
COMBAT ON A MOVING VEHICLE

The effect on attempts to use a Combat Skill while on board a moving vehicle is straight forward. The character receives a negative modifier to his Basic Chance of Success equal to the number of meters: round up, that the vehicle moves in the phase of resolution.
THE CHARACTER AND HIS MOUNT

Being mounted will alter some of the ways a character may act and interact during Detailed Action Time. As long as a character is in control of his mount, his Base Action Phase will determine when the mount will move unless the mounts Base Action Phase is lower. I n that case, movement will begin on the mounts Base Action Phase although the character on the animal may initiate an Action on his own Base Action Phase. If the mount is out of control it will act as if it had no rider except for the effects of the riders weight. The mount is then in the control of the Gamesmaster and he will move it on the DAT Display. A rider is assumed to be in control until asituation arises to test his control. This may arise from such things are gunfire, the sudden appearance of something, injury to the mount or anything else the Gamesmaster decrees. If the rider makes his Beast Riding BCS roll he will retain control for that Combat Turn. If he fails the roll, the mount will be treated as uncontrolled beginning on the next Action Phase. The rider must spend an Action to regain control. A successful Beast Riding BCS roll at the end of any Action in which the character is attempting to regain control will return the mount to a controlled state beginning on the next Action Phase. The rider must now deal with the animal at its current speed and direction. The Gamesmaster may apply modifiers to the Basic Chances of Success based on his evaluation of the situation and the reaction of the mount. A rider initiating an Attack Action while moving will resolve the attack when he passes his Target. He is still constrained to wait the requisite number of Action Phases before
HORSE AND RIDER IN DAT DISPLAY

A horse (for that matter, any animal with a body length between 1 and 2 meters) will occupy two hexes on the DAT Display. When moving forward the front half of the horse will occupy the new hex and the back half will occupy the hex vacated by the front half. The Zone of Influence for a horse is shown in the accompanying illustration. For purposes of portrayal on the DAT Display, a rider is considered to be in the back hex of his mount. The modifications to his Zone of Influence are shown in the accompanying illustration.
HORSE AND RIDER O N THE DAT DISPLAY
meters for a total jump of eight meters. Thus the horse will leave the group two meters in front of the obstacle and land two meters beyond it. The failed BCS to get the horse to jump will result in the horse independantly attempting to decelerate as much as possible to avoid hitting the obstacle. If the horse can slowto a Walk, it will stop on the next Action Phase and the rider must make a Beast Riding BCS to retain his seat. A Critical Miss on the riders attempt to get the horse to jump will result in the horse crashing into the obstacle. Solid obstacles will cause a number of DlOs of B type damage to the horse equal t o its BMA when the jump was attempted. The rider will be thrown from the horse and is subject t o damage as indicated below.
UNSEATING A RlbER
A rider may be unseated in a number of ways. Once unseated he is subject to damage due to falling. See page32. The BMA of the horse at the time the rider is unseated is considered as the distance of the fall. Any Critical Miss on an attempt t o control a horse will result in the rider being unseated. A successful Bash against the rider himself will require a Beast Riding BCS roll where failure will indicate that he has been unhorsed. A successful Grapple to the legs of a rider will require a check as if the rider had been Bashed. Such Grappling attempts against mounted men are Critical Saving Throws instead of Ability Saving Throws and receive a negative modification equal to the mounts BMA at the time. Anchoring a rider in any way will result in a check for unhorsing as explained below. A rider can beanchored by roping him, catching a part of his body, clotheslining him or any other method the Gamesmaster declares will have an equivalent effect. Once a rider has been anchored, the effect will not be checked until the anchoring method has been made taut, for example, a rope stretched to its limit. If the rider has time he may attempt to remove the anchor sever it or direct his horse in such a way that theanchor will not become taut. In order to see i f the unhorsing occurs, each of the contestants will roll the Effect Die for its effective Strength Group. If the riders roll is higher he will keep his seat. This means that the anchor has given way (a Grappling hold or tree limb) or broken (a rope). If the opponents roll is higher, the rider is unhorsed and subject to the rules for being unseated. I f a rider is anchored to a solid object (rather than having another character providing the base for the anchor), the Gamesmaster must assign a Strength Group for the object. This Strength Group will be the base from which the Effect Die will be determined rather than that of the character who attached the rider to the anchor. Modifications to the basic strength Groups are given below. When a rider has been attached to an object, the die rolls will not be made until the mount has travelled sufficient distance t o stretch the attaching method taut. If the rider has time he may attempt to remove the attaching method, sever it or direct his horse is such a way that the distance will not become sufficient for the attaching method to become taut.
MOUNTED MOVEMENT THROUGH AN OCCUPIED HEX

A rider/mount combination moving through an occupied hex requires a check for Bash to be made. The mount will be reduced to the next lower gait for the rest af its Action. If the Bash goes against it, it will be reduced 1 gait category per 2 meters of Stopping effect. It need not worry about being knocked over until its gait has been reduced t o a Walk. A footman receiving a Bash from a rider/mount combination may be trampled. The Effect Number of the Bash is the chance in 20 that the footman will receive damage as if he had received attacks from two hooves. For this type of attack use the mounts effective Mass as if it were the Strength used to determine the Effect Die.
JUMPING O N HORSEBACK
If the rider makes his Beast Riding BCS, he can cause his mount to jump over an obstacle. The horse must be moving at a gait faster than a Walk. The total distance of the jump (vertical, both up and down, and horizontal) is the Effect Die roll in meters for an effective Strength equal to the horses Strength minus the Encumbrance Total it is carrying. For each meter of height that an obstacle has, the horizontal distance required to make the jump is two meters greater than the width of the obstacle. The total additional length is split evenly on either side of the obstacle. Thus an obstacle that is two meters high and two long will require a horizontal jump of six meters and a vertical jump of two
Situation
character braced and ready rider without saddle at Walk rider without saddle at Trot rider without saddle at Canter rider without saddle at Gallop horse at Canter, riCler saddled horse at Gallop, rider saddled rider in high cantled saddle
Modification
+1 Group to the character -1 Group to rider
-2 Groups to rider -3 Groups to rider -4 Groups to rider +1 Group to rider +2 Groups to rider +1 Group to rider
35
DAMAGE, HEALTH AND HEALING

As noted in the section on Detailed Action Time, a character can be dealt damage points of lethal, subdual or critical nature. The number of points taken of the first two kinds is compared to the characters Damage Resistance Total to gauge how injured the character is in relation to his normal healthy state. When the total of this representation of injury exceed certain levels the character will register this by a decrease in efficiency. Lethal damage represents serious injuries which take time for the body to heal. Subdual damage represents less serious injuries that have immediate effects but are compensated for by the body in realtively short order. Critical damage represents very serious damage that prevents the character from utilizing the part of the body that receivessuch damage. Each type of damage heals differently in the game. When a character takes damage in the game, the Gamesmaster will specify how much damage is taken and what type of damage it is. The player should enter the amount in the corresponding section of the Character Record Sheet. If the character has already taken some damage, the new damage should be added to the amount already taken. When the total amount of lethal and subdual damage taken by a character exceeds one haif of his Damage Resistance Total, he is considered Wounded. His effective Deftness and Speed will be reduced by 25% and all applications of Skills will have a modification of -2 to the Basic Chance of Success. When the total of lethal and subdual damage exceeds three quarters of his Damage Resistance Total, the character will be considered Seriously Wounded. His Deftness and Speed will be reduced by 50% and all BCS will have a modification of -4. It should be remembered that the effects of being Seriously Wounded are not cumulative with the effects of beling Wounded. They replace those effects. When the total of damage taken exceeds the characters Damage Resistance Total, he is out of the fight. If the attack which raised the characters current damage total above the Damage Resistance Total was subdual damage, the character is unconscious. If the attack continues to do subdual damage,to the character, he will die when the additional damage exceeds twice his Damage Resistance Total. Such damage can come from continual beating by an attacker or prolonged exposure to electrical current or other sources as decided by the Gamesmaster. I f it was lethal damage and the Damage Resistance Total was exceeded by greater than the characters Healing Rate, the character is dead. If the difference between the characters current damage total and his Damage Resistance Total is less than or equal to his Healing Rate, the character is unconscious and comatose. Critical damage to a location will prevent a character from using that part of his body. Critical damage to the head, neck or body will render the character comatose. When the critical damage is healed the character will regain the use of that body part, or become conscious as appropriate. minutes. If the character was beyond his Damage Resistance Total when he started healing, he will become conscious when the current damage total is less than his Damage Resistance Total. The period of hea!ing for lethal damage is one day. For convienience in playing the game, all healing of lethal and critical damage is done at dawn. A characterwill subtract the points healed from the total of lethal or critical damage taken. The base number of points that a character will heal in a day is equal to his Healing Rate. This number may be increased or decreased according to the characters activities, the care the character receives and the surroundings in which the character finds himself. The period and modifications for healing critical damage are the same as for lethal damage. However, if a character is suffering from critical and lethal damage, his healing rate will be adjusted by all the appropriate factors. The adjusted Healing Rate will be split in half. One half will be subtracted from the total of lethal damage and one half will subtracted from the total of critical damage. Odd points are lost. Broken bones and severed stumps will take time to heal. This time is independent of any other healing that takes place. A character trying to beactive during this healing time will be greatly hampered. Theexact problems he will suffer is left to the Gamesmaster. The time required to heal such an injury is 100 days minus 1 day for each point of Health score the character has at the start of the healing process. An Advanced Medical Skill BCS roll is required to set broken bones correctly. Healing time will be dated from the day the bones are set. If they must be reset the healing time will start all over from the beginning. Stumps resulting from a Sever result must have an Advanced Medical Skill BCS roll applied to them i f they are to later accept prosthetic devices.
MODIFICATIONS TO HEALING RATE:

Patient is in the field, complete rest Patient is in the fieid, active up to one half day Patient is in the field, active for full day Patient engages in active combat that day Patient is in restful surroundings Patient receives good physical care (food, rest, etc.) Patient receives medical care (character attending makes BCS roll) Patient receives good medical care (hospital)
0
-1
-2
-1 +1 +1
+1
+1
HEALING DAMAGE
Subdual damage heals fairly quickly. A character may subtract a number of points equal to his Healing Rate from the total of subdual damage points taken for each ten minutes of game time spent in complete rest. If the character is active the recovery period will be 1 hour instead of 10
Martin the Traveller has a DRT of 24 and a Healing Rate of 3. He has been injured in a fight. He has taken 12 points of lethal damage, 4 points of subdual damage and 4 points of critical damage to his left arm. He decides to rest after the fight. After 20 minutes the subdual damage will be healed. Looking around he decides that the climate would be healthier elsewhere. He heads for the nearest town. He travels for a full day and is jumped b y a brigand at sunset. He kills the felon and miracuously escapes further injury. Having traveled at full movement he gets -2 to his Healing Rate. The -1 for having engaged in combat reduces his Rate too. He will not heal that day. The Traveller decides to spend a day resting to get some strength back. He avoids all encounters that day. He therefore gets his full healing rate. H e
36
divides this between the lethal and critical damage with the extra point being lost. He now has 1 1 points of lethal and 3 points of critical damage. After a half days travel, Martin finds himself at a small farmhouse. He persuades the family to let him stay the night. Later that afternoon, a wandering physician arrives. The doctor makes his First A i d Skill BCS r o l l so Martin adds tl to his Healing Rate. The half days travel costs him 1 but the restful surroundings of the cottage cancel that with +l. The net gain of 1 allows him to reduce the total of lethal damage to 9 and the critcal damage t 1. o
Infection may be avoided by the application of a unit of medical supplies when first aid is supplied. This unit is over and above any applied for first aid healing. Also, any character applying a BCS roll to the infected character while utilizing Pathology Skill will eliminate the infection. The attempt to apply Pathology Skill may only be made once per patient for each infection possibility. Once the character is infected, recognizable symptoms will appear at the next time healing would be calculated. O n each successive day, the character may attempt Health Ability Saving Throws to throw off the infection. The character will heal normally on the day after the infection is thrown off.
IMMEDIATE FIRST AID

Immediately after a combat, characters may receive first aid. Each of the measures listed below will allow a character to immediately subtract one point of lethal damage from the current total. If not applied in the space of time immediately after the combat, no effect will be gained. These measures include: 0 Character makes BCS roll with First Aid Skill (die roll equals 1: 2 points) 0 Patient is bandaged (requires bandage materials) 0 Patient is given 1 unit of medical supplies (non-cumulative)
OPTION
If, in a characters Health Ability Saving Throws to eliminate an infection, a 20 should be thrown, gangrene will set in. Gangrene negates the characters ability to make Health Saving Throws. Gangrene has an initial Virulence Group of 1 which will increase by 1 Group each day. Each day the Gamesmaster will roll the Effect Die for the current Virulence Group of the Gangrene. When the total of the Effect Die rolls exceeds the characters Damage Resistance Total, the character is dead. Each day a character with Pathology Skill may attempt to halt the progress of the disease. His Basic Chance of Success will be halved if he does not expend a number of units of medical supplies equal to the current Virulence Group of the Gangrene. In addition the base BCS will receive a negative modfication equal to the current Virulence Group of the Gangrene. Treat the accumulated results of the Effect die rolls of the Gangrene as critical damage for purposes of healing if the disease is thrown off.
RESTORATION OF LOST ATTRIBUTE POINTS

If the character has lost Attribute points due to some form of attack, he may regain them at a rate equal to one half his Healing Rate, rounded down, per week. His Healing Rate for this purpose is subject to similar modifications to those received when healing lethal or critical damage. In this case, though, the period is a week instead of a day for each modification and the appropriate medical care is Therapy Skill, not First Aid Skill. All modifications are made to the characters Healing Rate before it is halved. By this method a character may not regain Attribute points lost due to aging.
DISEASES
Diseases can be broken down into three basic formats: acute, episodic and chronic. In game formula they will be coded (-), (+) and (0) respectively. Each time an acute disease has an effect, whether its first effect of at the end of a Cycle, it will subtract the result of its Effect Die from its target Attribute. The character must then function at the reduced value of the Attribute. When the disease reduces the target Attribute to zero or below, the Crisis stage is reached. When dealing with an episodic disease, a count of the cumulative result of the Effect Die rolls is kept. When the total exceeds the Critical Saving Throw range in the target Attribute, the Attribute will be reduced by25% till thedisease achieves its next stage. When the total exceeds the Ability Saving Throw range, the target Attribute will be reduced to 50% for the duration of the disease. At the end of each Cycle of the disease, the character is allowed to make an Ability Saving Throw with the target Attribute to avoid specific episode effects. A specific episode automatically occurs when the disease first takes effect. When the total of the Effect Die rolls exceeds the score in the target Attribute, the Crisis state occurs. A chronic disease will have its effect at the end of the Incubation Period. This effect will remain until the character throws off the disease or the time limit on the duration of the disease runs out. If a target Attribute is specified, it will be decreased by the Effect Die roll for the duration of the disease. The Attribute will return to normal at the end of the disease. If a disease has more than one main target, each will be treated independently. The Crisis stage will occur when the first Attribute satisfies the conditions for its occurrance. Diseases may also have specific symptoms which will have an effect on the character. I f a disease has such symptoms they will be listed after the formulaic expression of the
RESTORING A CHARACTER TO CONSCIOUSNESS

If a character is unconscious due to System Shock, a Critical Effect result of having his Damage Resistance Total exceeded by a subdual attack, he may be restored to consciousness by another character,who mhkes his BCS roll for Advanced Medical Skill. If the character is unconscious due to being in a comatose state, the reason for the coma must be eliminated first. If coma was caused by critical damage to the head, neck or body, the critical damage must first be healed. If it is due to the characters Damage Resistance Total being exceeded by lethal damage, the characters current damage total must be lowered to within his Damage Resistance Total.
INFECTION
A character may be subject to infection if Lethal or Critical damage has been caused to him by the bite of a predator or scavenger, an attack with a dirty or rusty weapon or, if the character does not keep himself decently clean (for example, sleeps in his armor for days on end), any weapon that breaks the skin. Once the character is exposed to an opportunity for infection to set in, the Gamesmaster will make a secret Health Ability Saving Throw for the character. This throw should be made at the next time that healing would be calculated. If the throw is failed, the wound has become infected. The character may not heal as long as he is subject to the infection.
37
disease. Such symptoms last for the duration of the disease but may be temporarily alleviated by the application of symptomatic drugs. Each strain of a disease will be rated for its Virulence Group. This is a measure of how strong the disease isas well as how dangerous it is. At the end of each Cycle of an acute or episodic disease, the Gamesmaster will roll the Effect Die for the Virulence Group of the disease. This will be the progress made by the disease for that cycle. A disease has an Incubation Period. This is the time between exposure to the source of the disease and the first appearance of symptoms. This will vary by strain. The time period of the Incubation Period will be reduced by the Virulence Group. This reduction will be in whatever units of time in which the Incubation Period is expressed. At the end of the Incubation Period the disease will make its first attack. The Vector of a disease is a description of the method by which the character can catch the disease. If the character has protection from the Vector, he can not contract the disease. The Vectors and their descriptions follow: Aerosol The infection is airborne. Any character within a number of meters equal to the Virulence Group who breaths the air is subject to Infection. Subcutaneous - The infection must be gotten under the character's skin by such means as an animal bite, wound, injection, etc. Gastric - Thesource of infection must be taken internally through such things as contaminated food or drink. Dermal - Simple skin contact is required. A garment that protects a character from the initial source of infection may later cause the character to besubject to infection i f it carries contamination from the original contact.
Within these rules a disease will be described in the following method: Vector - Format - Target - Incubation Period Virulence Group - Cycle time This will be followed by any special notes including any symptoms or specifics regarding the "episode" of an episodic disease. Abbreviations in use will include the standard abbreviationsfor Attributesand time. Vectorwill beabbreviated asthe first letter of its name. Thus, an acutediseasewith an Aerosol Vector that attacks the Wit of a character and has an Incubation Period of 12 hours, a Cycle of 3 hours and a Virulence Group of 4 would be abbreviated as: A - (-) - WT - 12 hr. - 4 - 3 hr. If the disease were episodic and the episode was a fit of paranoid delusion it would be: A - (+) - WT - 12 hr. - 4 - 3 hr. -paranoid delusion episode If the disease were chronic it would be: A - (0) - WT - 12 hr. - 4 - 0 Since more than one disease may have the same game formula, each disease should be specified by name. This allows one to distinguish between an antibiotic tailored for a specific disease and an antibiotic that only corresponds on all principal factors. Specific diseases will be presented in Book 3.
DISEASE SYMPTOMS
This section presents typical disease symptoms and the effects on the character with the disease. Not all diseases will have symptoms as severe as these. Many diseases will have these type of symptoms but their effects will not be great enough to warrant an effect on the character. Attribute Disfunction - The specified Attribute has its effective Group lowered by the total advance divided by 10, rounded down. Dizziness - When the disease's advance is greater than the character's Health CST, treat all of the character's
movement as if he were on Treacherous Ground. If the terrain is truly Treacherous Ground, double his chances of slipping. When the advance exceeds his Health AST, subtract the Virulence Group of the disease from the number needed to make any Saving Throws involving the character's sense of balance such as those required for keeping one'sfeet, catching things, dodging, etc. Dystopia When the advance is greater than the character's Health CST, theeffective Light level for that character is reduced by one step. That is Good light becomes Dim, Dim becomes Poor, etc. When the advance exceeds his Health AST, the reduction is two steps. Fainting Faints are treated as System Shock. A character who fails a Physical Attribute Saving Throw is subject to a check for Fainting. He must make a Health Ability Saving Throw to avoid Fainting. The number needed for the Saving Throw is reduced by the Virulence Group of the disease. Continued exertion may also causethecharactertocheck for Fainting. The character's Health Group is the number of Combat Turns he may engage in strenuous activities such as combat, running, climbing, etc., before he must makea Health AST as above. If he does not Faint when he checks for it he may continue to exert himself for the same time period before he must check again. Lesions - The day's advance of the disease is the chance in 10 of lesions developing on a random Location. Any damage taken on that Location will expose the character to Infection. Nausea - Exertion as described in fainting or a successful attack on Locations 6 through 12 will require a Health AST to avoid a fit. The character experiencing a fit of vomitting will be unable to perform any Action for a full Combat Turn. He will remain incapacitated until he makes a Health AST. Attempts to throw off the fit may be made on the bookkeeping phase of the Combat Turn. Pain - The disease's advance for that day acts as a negative modifier to all BCS rolls attempted by the character. One half the value of the advance is subtracted from the number needed for any Saving Throws. Paralysis - The specified extremity will take critical damage equal to the day's advance of the disease. Puerpera - The character's blood is slow to clot, though not so bad as a case of haemophilia would make it. But he will tend to bleed from open wounds and to suffer severe bruising from non-cutting blows. When Lethal damage is taken, after the combat in which it was taken is over, and any medical attention is given to the character that falls in the classification of immediate first aid, total up the character's current Lethal Damage total and calculate a Group from the total. Roll the effect die for this Group and add that tothecharacter's total damage tally as Lethal damage. In the event that this drives him below 0, he will become comatose. Under no circumstances will the additional damage kill him. If it reduces his DRT to the death point, it stops there, and no extra damage for puerpera is assessed. The character is comatose from bood loss. When Subdual Damage from any blow istaken tothe limbs, the total Subdual Damage done is the percent chance that the limb will suffer a Disable result, as described in Critical Effects. The character will lose the use of the limb until a Health AST is made, rolling hourly. Blows to the body or head will not have any appreciable effect on the puerpera symptom, in terms of Subdual damage's effects.
38
Rhuematoid Condition
The effects of this symptom vary by the location affected. If it affects the legs, the characters Base Movement Allowance will be halved when the diseases advance is greater than his Health CST. It will be reduced to one quarter of its normal value when advance exceeds Health AST. If it affects arms, torso or head. when the advance exceeds the Health CST all attacks that the character makes out of his Side hexes are treated as attacks out Rear hexes and the Front hexes are treated as Side hexes. When the advance passes his Health AST, attacks out any of his hexes are treated as Rear hexes. If it affects the hands, the characters Deftness Group will be reduced by the total advance divided by 10, round down, for determining the effects of all operations requiring manual dexterity such as lockpicking, crafts, etc. Tinnitus The days advance of the disease is the number of distractions the character receives due to ringing in his ears. Any Saving Throws utilizing his sense of hearing will also receive this negative modification. Ulceration The days advance of the disease is the chance in 10 that the character will develop ulcers on a Location. This should be determined by making a Hit Location roll. I f the character receives any damage to an ulcerated Location he must check for System Shock. The character is also exposed to Infection, see page37. Weakness When the diseases advance is greater than the characters Health CST his effective Strength, Deftness and Speed are reduced 25% and he receives1 to all physical BCS rolls. When theadvance isgreater than his Health AST, the penalty to those Attributes is 50% and -2 on physical BCS rolls.
in the characters system, the effects of the disease will disappear or he will be able to start healing the effects. The exact result will be dependant o n the exact disease. If the disease has a Cycle, the character is allowed to make a Health Saving Throw at the end of the Cycle time before the diseases advance is determined. If the die roll is in the range for a Critical Saving Throw, the disease is thrown off. If the die roll is in the range for an Ability Saving Throw, the disease is being held in check by the characters immunoresponse system and it makes no advance for that Cycle. Once the disease is thrown off, the character may go about the busines of recovering from the disease. When a victim is making his Saving Throw at the beginning of a day or at the end of a Cycle, he will receive modifications to the number needed for a successful Saving Throw as follows:
if a character makes a Pathology Skill BCS roll, modified as usual by the diseases Virulence Group, a plus 1 is received. 0 if a broad-band antibiotic is administered, a plus equal to its strength is received. if a specific antibiotic is administered, a plus equal to the specifics efficiency against the disease is received. if the character is wounded (greater than 50% of DRT), a minus 1 is received. if the character is seriously wounded (greater than 75% of DRT), a minus 2 is received. These modifications affect both the Critical and Ability Saving Throw Ranges.
0
CRlSlS POINT
OF THE
DISEASE
DEALING WITH DISEASE

When a character is first exposed to a disease, a Health Ability Saving Throw must be made. The number requried for success will be modified downwards by the Virulence Group of thedisease. If the throw is successful, thecharacter has avoided contracting the disease. No further checks are necessary while he is in thevicinityof the sourceof infection. If the character should leave the area and return on another day he would be subject to possible infection again. Once the disease has been contracted, the victim has an opportunity during the incubation period to throw off the disease before any ill effects occur. This attempt requires that a character make a successful Basic Chance of Success roll using Pathology Skill. This Basic Chance of Success receives a negative modification, to the number needed, equal to the Virulence Group of the disease. Once the Pathology Skill BCS is successful the victim is allowed to make a Health Ability Saving Throw to rid himself of the disease. Alternatively, application of a broad-band antibiotic or a specific antibiotic for the disease will allow the victim to make the second Health Ability Saving Throw. The exact drug used will add its efficiency against the disease to the number requried for a successful Saving Throw. If a drug is applied by a character who makes a successful BCS roll using Pathology Skill, the strength of the drug will be added to the number required for the patients Saving Throw. Only one attempt to throw off the disease may be made during the Incubation Period. At the end of the Incubation Period the first effects of the disease will appear. If the disease has no Cycle, theseeffects will remain in force until the character makes a Health Saving Throw against the disease or the disease runs its course. A Saving Throw against the disease may be made at the beginning of each day. Once the disease is no longer active
When an acute disease has reduced its main target to zero or below, when an episodic disease has a cumulative total of its Effect Die rolls that exceeds the characters score in the diseases main target, or when a disease reaches a specified stage with a chronic disease, the patient has reached the Crisis point of the disease. The character is allowed a last Saving Throw to eliminate the disease. This will be a Health Critical Saving Throw. No modifications are allowed. If the character fails this throw, he has died of the disease. If the throw is successful, the character may begin the process of recovery.
DOCTORS AND DISEASE

Once a patient is evidencing the symptoms of a disease, a character with Pathology Skill may attempt to diagnose the disease by making a Basic Chance of Success roll. This will allow the player to know the formula, in game terms, for the disease. This is important in choosing a specific antibiotic, if one-is to be used. Other specific uses of Pathology Skill with regard to disease have been dealt with above. In brief, a successful Basic Chance of Success roll will allow a character a Saving Throw during the Incubation Period or modify the number required for a Saving Throw that the character normally makes in the course of the disease. Valeria, In her career as a wandering adventurer, has been in many places. She has also caught many diseases. Early on she caught a stomach bug fitting the description: G - (0) - S TR - 4 hr. - 2 - 0 - 48 hr. The inn she was staying at had bad food that night. With a Health of 15 and a die roll of 1020 of 16, she failed her Ability Saving Throw to avoid catching the disease. After 4 hours the disease made its first attack. The Gamesmaster rolled 1 D6 with a result of 5. This was from the Virulence Group of the disease being 2 and having an Effect Die of 706. Thus her Strength is reduced by 5 for the duration of the disease which will be 48 hours. After24 hours. that is 1 day, she again fails her Health AST with a die rollof
12. She has no need to roll at the end of the next 24 hour period since the disease will have run its course and will cease. Her Strength may then be healed to its normal level. Several months later, Valeria was bitten by a dog which was foaming at the mouth. Again she failed her initial Saving Throw to avoid the disease. Fortunately for her, a companion had Pathology Skill with a BCS of 12. The Virulence Group of the disease was 4 which reduced his BCS to 8. A die roll of 4 o n 1020 allowed her to make another Saving Throw during the Incubation Period. This time the die roll was a 7. She just barely avoided coming down with the disease. This disease had the formula: S - (+) WL - 3 hr. - 4 - 4hr. - homicidal mania episode. Let us look into an alternate universe where Valeria's companion did not make his BCS roll. Three hours after infection, the Gamesmaster rolls 2 0 6 as the Effect Die for the disease since it has a Virulence Group of 4. The result is 3. Valeria has a Will of 23 (CST equals 8; AST equals 11).Symptoms appear which indicate that Valeria has caught a disease, but no specific effects appear because the cumulative total of Effect Die rolls is less than her Will CST. She does however have an episode of homocidal mania. After subduing Valeria, her companion attempts to diagnose the disease by making a Pathology Skill BCS roll. The die result is 7. This indicates success. so the player controlling the companion is given the formula for the disease. He does not have any specific antibiotics to use against the disease. Before the next Cycle of the disease, he attempts another Pathology Skill BCS roll to help Valeria throw off the disease. He also gives her a broad-band antibiotic. The BCS die roll is a 3, so Valeria will add 1 for that and 1 for the broad-band antibiotic to the range of her CST and AST. This means her effective scores for this Cycle are CST equals 7 and AST equals 9 instead of 5 and 7 respectively. The die roll is 8 indicating that the disease has been held in check and willnot advance at this point. Valeria fails her Will AST and has another fit but she is restrained and harms no one. At the next Cycle, the companion fails his BCS roll and has run out of broad-band antibiotic. The die roll of Valeria's Health Saving Throw is again an 8 but this time it indicates failure. The die roll for the disease i f 9 bringing the total to 13. Valeria gets to make her Will AST before the effects of the disease's advance take effect. her roll is a 2 meaning that she will not have a fit this time. Because the disease's advance has exceeded her Will AST value, her effective score in the Target Attribute of Will is reduced by 50% to 12 making her new CST equal 4 and AST equal 6. Remember that the disease's advance is compared to the permanent value of the Attribute. On the third Cycle, Valeria gets a 2 for her Health Saving Throw. She has thrown off the disease. Her Will returns to normal but the damage she t o o k while being subdued by her companions must be healed. T w o years later, while poking her nose where is didn't belong, Valeria picked up another bug, and as usual didn't make her Health AST to avoid infection. This one was: D - ( - j - DFT - 12 hr. - 3 - 12 hr. At the end of the Incubation Period, the first Effect Die roll for the disease was 5 on 2010. Valeria's Deftness score was immediately reduced by 5 . Twelve hours
later, she again failed her Saving Throw and the Effect Die result was 3. Her Deftness was reduced by 3 more points. This brought her Deftness to zero. She went immediately into Crisis. The die roll for her last attempt to rid herself of the disease before it killed her was a 4. It was well within the Critical Saving Throw range as required. Valeria survived the disease but would be quite a while recovering the lost points of Deftness.
ANTIBIOTICS AND DISEASE

Various cultures will have remedies, processes, and/or drugs which will aid a person w h o is fighting a disease. T o simplify matters for the game, w e will refer t o such things as antibiotics. A broad-band antibiotic is designed to fight a disease by fighting its symptoms and bolstering the body's natural defenses. A specific antibiotic is more or less tailored to the disase and fights the disease directly. A broad-band antibiotic will be rated for its strength. This is the amount it will raise the Saving Throw of the patient receiving it. A specific antibiotic will also be rated for strength. It will, however raise the number needed for a successful throw on the patient's part by its efficiency. T h e efficiency of a specific antibiotic is the result of the multiplication of its strength times its correspondance factor. T h e correspondance factor is determined by comparing the formula for the antibiotic to the formula forthe disease.T h e antibiotic is rated for Format, Target, Vector and each specific secondary characteristic such as the nature of an episode. T h e correspondance factor is the nature of these :hat the antibiotic has in common with the disease. Any antibiotic specified as being tailored to cure a specific disease will, upon being administered t o the patient, curethe disease at that point. T h e character will be at the recovery stage of the disease. A tailored antibiotic will generally also cure any side effects of a disease. T h e formula format for an antibiotic follows exactly that of a disease to facilitate comparison. For this example let us refer back to the previous one and the second disease which has a formula of S - (t) - WL - 3 hr. - 4 - 4 hr. - homicidal mania episode. Consider Valeria k companion who had diagnosed the disease. Suppose he had the following specific abtibiotic to give to Valeria instead of the broad-band antibiotic: S - (-) - WL homcidal mania episode. It corresponds to the disease on three points. It would add3 instead of the 1 added by the broad-band antibiotic. This would have raised Valeria's effective Saving Throw ranges to CST equals 9 and AS T equals 1 1. The die roll of 8 would have meant that she threw off the disease at that point and would not have had the second f i t of homicidal mania.
RECOVERY FROM DISEASE

When a character throws off a disease or survives a disease because it has run its course, he will receive 1D10 of subdual damage for each Virulence Group of the disease. This is curable in the normal fashion, see page 36. T h e character is also able t o begin the process of healing any Attribute points lost due to the disease. This process is dealt with o n page 37. I f the disease was specified to have had side effects, the character will of course be suffering from them. Whether such side effects can be healed will depend on their nature. T h e process for healing reversable side effects will be detailed in the description of that disease that causes them.
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OPTION IMMUNITY FROM DISEASE

Any character who has once had a specific strain of an acute or episodic disease will be immune to that strain in the future. In game terms, this means that a character who has made his Saving Throw after the first effects of the disease have evidenced themselves will automatically make his Health Ability Saving Throw when exposed to the same strain of the disease. The bookkeeping of which strains the character has had is the responsibility of the player. When the character is exposed to a disease, the player should inform the Gamesmaster of the strains to which the character is immune. The Gamesmaster will take this information into account but should have the player roll a Saving Throw for the character anyway, since even an immune character has no natural automatic way of recognizing a strain of disease.
reduced by the number of units of supplies that are applied. In either case, the application of the wrong kind of aid will have no effect o n the action of the poison. At the end of the Incubation Period, the character must make a Health Ability Saving Throw, assuming the poison has not been counteracted. If the Saving Throw is made, the poison will have no effect. I f it is failed, the poison will begin to take effect. The strength of the poison works as the Virulence Group of a disease. It is used as a Group rating to determine an Effect Die. The proper die is rolled by the Gamesmaster and the result is noted. The main Target of all poisons is the characters Health. When the cumulative total of the Effect Die rolls exceeds the characters Critical Saving Throw range, first stage effects occur. When the cumulative total exceeds the Ability Saving Throw range, second stage effects occur. When the cumulative total exceeds the characters Health score the Crisis stage occurs. The effects at each stage for each kind of poison are dealt with later in this section. At theendoftheCycleTimeforthepoison, thecharacter is allowed to make a Health Saving Throw. If the die roll is in the Critical Saving Throw range the strength of the poison will be reduced by one Group and no die roll will be made for the poison that Cycle. If the die roll is in the Ability Saving Throw range, no die roll will be made for the poison ,on that Cycle. This process will continue until the character has reduced the effective strength of the poison to zero or the poison has had its Crisis stage effects. Additional doses of a poison will act to restore thestrength of the poison to its strongest level. They will not increase it beyond the maximum for its current form and strength. Additional doses do not, however, have to go through the Incubation Period.
POISONS
Poisons function much like diseases since they have characteristics that resemble Vector, Incubation Period, Virulence Group, and Cycle Time. The effects that a poison has will depend on its type and whether it has any side effects. The three general types of poisons are lethal, narcotic and depressant. The Vector of a poison is the same as that of a disease. That is, it may be Aerosol, Subcutaneous, Gastric or Dermal. This is the method by which the poison is introduced into the characters system. Once the poison has been introduced to the .characters system, there will be a period of time until if first shows its effects. During this time attempts may be made to remove the poison from the characters system. The exact requirements and procedures will depend on the Vector as follows: Aerosol Application of an antidote is the only way to halt this type of poison before it takes effect. Subcutaneous A successful application of First Aid Skill will remove the poison before it causes harm. Gastric The proper aid to apply can be one of two kinds, induced vomitting or dilution. A successful BCS roll utilizing Advanced Medical Skill will determine which is appropriate. In either case, a First Aid Skill BCS will apply the required aid. In the formercase, the recipient will be incapacitated until he makes a Health Ability Saving Throw. Attempts may be made on the bookkeeping phase of each Combat Turn. In the latter case, a number of units of the correct substance (water, acid, base, etc.) equal to the strength of the poison is required. If an insufficient number is available, the number used will reduce the strength of the poison by the number administered. Application of the wrong aid will reduce the recipients required Saving Throw to cancel the effects of the poison from the Ability to the Critical range. Dermal The proper aid to apply may be one of two kinds, flushing or treatment. A successful BCS roll utilizing Advanced Medical Skill will determine which is appropriate. In the former case application of one liter of solvent (such as water) per Location covered by the poison for each Strength point that the poison has is required. I f insufficient water is avilable, the water that is applied will reduce the strength of the poison by one point for each unit amount applied. In the latter case, an Advanced Medical Skill BCS and the application of a number of medical supplies equal to the strength of the poison is required. If the BCS is made and an insufficient number of units of medical supplies is applied, the poisons strength will be
EFFECTS OF POISONS
If a specific poison is listed as having side effects or episodes they will occur at the times and have the effects that are detailed in the description of the poison. The general effects of each kind of poison are presented below: Lethal First Stage - The Attributes specified as targets of the poison are reduced by 25%. All BCS rolls are -1. Second Stage - The target Attributes are reduced by 50%. All BCS rolls are -2. Crisis Stage - The character is allowed one last Health Critical Saving Throw. Failure indicates death. Success leaves the character comatose. After recovering consciousness the character will have the target Attributes reduced by the strength of the poison. This damage may be healed following the rules on page 37. Narcotic First State - The characters Wit, Deftness and Speed are reduced by 25%. All BCS rolls are at -2. Second Stage - The characters Wit, Deftness and Speed are reduced by 50%. All BCS rolls are at -4. Crisis Stage - The character is rendered unconscious. This state will naturally last for a number of hours equal to the strength of the poison. Depressant First and Second Stage - as with Narcotic. Crisis Stage - Character retains reduced values of the affected Attributes. All BCS rolls are at half value. This condition will last for a period of hours equal to the strength of the poison. Any character surviving the Crisis stage of a poison will have symptoms equivalent to the second stage effects of a narcotic poison at the end of the time period of the Crisis
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stage effects. This will last for a number of hours equal t o the strength of the poison or until the character makes a Health Ability Saving Throw. This may be attempted once per hour. The character will then evidence symptoms equivalent t o first stage narcotic poisoning for a number of hours equal t o the strength of the poison or until a Health Ability Saving Throw is made. At this time the character will return to his normal condition barring any side effects or damage caused by the poison.
TREATMENT OF POISONING
I f a character is poisoned, treatment may be applied t o counteract or remove the poison as specified in the description on the Vectors of poisons earlier in this section. Once the Gamesmaster has made the first Effect Die roll for the poison, the only treatment allowed is for the symptoms by the use of drugs or some other method that will negate the effects of the poison at that level. T h e poison will continueto work its insidious way in the character's system. Only by making Saving Throws can the character rid his system of poison unless a specific antidote is available. Specific antidotes work with poisons exactly as specific a n t i b i o t i c s w o r k w i t h diseases. T h e p o i n t s of correspondance are Attributes attacked (all must correspond t o count as one factor), Type, Vector and any specific side effects. A tailored antidote will negate the poison after completion of its own Incubation Period. See page 40 for the mechanics of antibiotics. Antidote formulae follow the same format as poison formulae.
ENCODING A POISON
The procedure for encoding the game formula for a poison works much the same as the process forthe game formula of a disease. The basic format is: Vector - Type - Attribute(s) attacked - Incubation Period - Strength - Cycle Time - notes. The code for the type is the first letter of its name. Thus, a fast acting Dermal nerve poison might have a formula as follows:
D, dilution (water) - L - DFT, SPD - 1 Combat Turn 2 - 1 Combat Turn - Survivors have 1 Distraction Factor under stress due to nervous twitching.
Specific poisons Gamesmaster. will be detailed later for the
Jaxom is moving throught the forest. Suddenly he feels a sharp sting and looks down to see a blowgun dart imbedded in his arm. It is dipped in the following poison: S - L - DFT, SPD - 0 - 3 - 112 Combat turn. The Incubation Period is 0 so there is no time to provide treatment for the poison. At the start of this action Jaxom has a Health of 12, a Deftness of 22 and a Speed of 15. Jaxom's Health Ability Saving Throw attempt yields a die roll result of 7 which is one above the necessary score. The poison will have its first effects on the bookkeeping phase of that Combat Turn. The first Effect Die rollis a 6 which exceeds Jaxom's Health CST value. At this point his Deftness and Speed will be reduced by 25% and all his BCS rolls have a -1 modifier. Since the poison has a Cycle Time of 112 of a Combat Turn, i t has an assumed Base Action Phase of 20 and will do its insidious work on phases 11 and 1 until it kills him or is negated. Jaxom's next Health Saving Throw, done on next Combat Turn is a 3 which will reduce the strength of the poison t o 2 and prevent it from having further effects at this time. O n phase 6, which is Jaxom's current Base Action Phase since the action of the poison has reduced his Speed to 12, he initiates a Survey and Command Action to discover where his assailant is and to warn his companions. But o n phase 4 , another dart thuds home. Jaxom's Saving Throw fails again restoring the strength of poison active in his system to 3. On phase 1 , Jaxom will make a Health Saving Throw and fail. The poison's Effect Die roll is a 4 which brings the total to 10. This exceeds the AST range and the poison has its second stage effects. His Deftness drops t o 8 and his Speed to 11. For the next two Combat Turns, Jaxom makes his Health Saving Throws in the AST range. This halts the advance of the poison but does not reduce its effects. On the next roll he fails his Saving Throw and the Effect Die roll for the poison is 4. This brings the total to 14 (which exceeds his Health score) and the Crisis stage begins immediately. Jaxom makes his Health Critical Saving Throw. He is comatose. When he finally recovers consciousness, he will be under the second stage effects of a narcotic poison for up to 3 hours and then will evidence first stage effects for u p to an additional 3 hours. His Deftness and Speed will be reduced by 3 until healed.
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CHARACTER IMPROVEMENT
As the game progresses, the player will wish to see his character improve his abilities, his chances of success and, in short, his ability to survive. Since this system contains no artificial level increments as a measure of a characters abilities, the character must be improved in other ways. Diligent study, rigorous training and learning through practical experience are all valid ways for the character to improve. The process of improvement may be rapid or slow depending on the situation surrounding the improvement and the character himself. When a character is using two Skills averaged together to gain his Basic Chance of Success, if he succeeds and is allowed to Learn-by-doing, he may choose which of the two he will attempt to Learn-by-doing with. Multiple successes with the averaged BCS will not allow him to attempt to Learnby-doing with both of the Skills involved. Jus Dogslayer is proceeding through a occupied building. He picks the lock to the cellarstairs. Check for Learning-by-doing. He then locks the door behind him and proceeds down the stairs. Out of the dark, a figure attacks him. Drawing his sword and knife, Jus fights using Two Weapon form of H T H Combat Skill. Just as he slays this man, another comes at him. Jus wounds the second man with his knife. just before having i t knocked from his hand. Now Jus fights o n using Single Weapon form of H T H Combat Skill. He dispatches his opponent. At this point, Jus, having used Two Weapon Skill successfully against both opponents, can check for Learning-by-doing for that Skill. Although he fought two opponents, i t was during the same Detailed Action Time. He may also check for Learning-by-doing with regard to Single Weapon Skill since he used that Skillsuccessfully against the second man. Jus now hears more men approaching and opts for the better part of valor. H e uses his Stealth Skill to move silvently back up the stairs. Check for Learning-by-doing because noise would attract attention to Jus. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Jus finds that the door has been modified so that a key is needed from either side and he, not noticing this, (he failed his Wit CST to notice this Hidden Thing) had set the mechanism to lock behind himself. He hurriedly picks the lock again. Check for Learning-by-doing since the time pressure that Jus is under constitutes a valid execution of his Skill. Jus closes the door behind him as he heads for the wide open spaces outside the building. Let us consider the same character exploring the building when there is nothing behind the door. In this case, the Gamesmaster knows before hand that there is nothing in the cellar. He has also decided that anyone who picks the lock to get into the cellar can obviously pick to lock to get out and so a successful BCS roll to open the lock the first time means that the character will automatically succeed the second time. He does not tell this to the player and will still make him roll the second time to maintain suspense. Jus arrives and picks the lock. The Gamesmaster with an abstracted comment about waiting to see i f Jus will survive puts off temporarily the players L earning-by-doing roll. Jus then using his Stealth Skill successfully reaches the bottom of the stairs and finds the cellar empty. Since there was nothing to sneak up on, his successful use of Stealth was not pertinent and he may not Learn-dy-doing. Jus retraces his path to the door and finds himself locked in. Attempting to use his Picklock Skill to open it. the die result is 20. The Gamesmaster knows
IMPROVING SKILLS
A character may improve his score in a Skill in one of two ways. These are Study and Learning-by-doing. In both processes, it is the score in the Skill, not the Basic Chance of Success that is raised by the amount indicated. The Basic Chance of Success will increase when the characters score is raised sufficiently that a new calculation of the BCS yields a higher number. Remember that a character has one point of Basic Chance of Success for every five points of Skill score. A Skill score may not be increased over the maximum score. Any extra points are lost. When a character reaches a score of 100 (BCS 20) in most Skills, he has learned what their is to know in that Skill. He is assumed to be an effective inaster of the Skill. A die roll of 20 when making a Basic Chance of Success roll will still indicate failure but in most cases the failure will not have critical effects. When using a Combat Skill which has a maximum scoreof200 (though the BCS maximum is still 20) a die roll of 20 will indicate that critical effects occur if the character cannot make a Control Throw (the BCS of thesecond 100 points). A character with a score of 200 in a Combat Skill will still feel critical effects if the die roll on the Control Throw is a 20.
LEARNING-BY-DOING
When the character has successfully utilized a Skill, he may attempt to Learn-by-doing. It is the responsiblity of the Gamesmaster to decide if a s k i l l use during the game makes the character eligible for the attempt. The general requirement the use of the Skill significantly advances the position of the characters in the game situation. Thus a character who spends his time between adventures rolling his BCS in Lockpicking Skill is ineligible since there is no pressure on him, no significant need for locks to be picked and he is facing no new challenges. The character is effectively conducting Solo Study as detailed later in this section. A character is allowed to attempt to Learn-by-doing for each eligible Skill used successfully in a Detailed Action Time situation. Multiple successes in oneskill during a given DAT situation will not allow more than one attempt to Learnby-doing. To be able to Learn-by-doing the character must have a score greater than zero in the Governing Talent for the Skill. The Governing Talent is the first Talent listed in the calculation for the initial score in the Skill. In order to successfully Learn-by-doing, the character must roll less than or equal to his score in that Governing Talent on 1 D20. If he does so, he may add one to his score in that Skill.
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that the lock has been picked since that result was predetermined but he informs the player that you dont seem to have picked it. The player in his frustration has Jus kick the door which amazingly (to him) comes open. The player is now allowed b y the Gamesmaster to roll for Learning-by-doing for the lockpicking attempt.
~~
TABLE OF LEARNING RATE MODIFICATIONS

LEARNING AIDS VALUE
1 1
1 1
STUDY AND SKILL IMPROVEMENT

The characters score in a Skill represents hard won and ingrained knowledge and/or abilities that the character has acquired. Thus, the skill represented by a Skill score is not gained by simple demonstration, casual reading or occasional practice. The character must diligently apply himself in order to make any significant gains in Skill score. Study turns are stated to be of a weeks duration. The Gamesmaster is free to alter the time period, but the Learning Rate of any characters involved should be altered to reflect the difference. The basic increase to a characters Skill score after a Study period of one week will be equal to his Learning Rate. This Learning Rate (his Wit Group) will be altered by various factors. These are presented in the Table of Learning Rate Modifications. To his basic Learning rate, the character will add the value of any Learning Aids that are applicable. This number will be divided by the sum of the values of all the Learning Hindrances that apply. The result is the adjusted Learning Rate which is the number of points that will be added to the characters score in the Skill being Studied. Any fractions that occur due to Learning Hindrances are retained during the period of Study. They are lost at the end of that period. Thus a character who has a month to Study and an Adjusted Learning Rate of 1.7, will after four weeks, add four timestheweekly rateor6.8. SincetheGamesmaster has an adventure planned for the character, he is allowed no more Study time and the .8 is dropped from the amount that the character will add to his Skill score. During a Study period, the only major functions (Research, Rebuilding, Using Influence are all major functions) the character may perform are related to learning. A character may Study two Skills, Study one Skill and Teach another or Teach two Skills. When a character is Studying two Skills during one Study period his base Learning Rate is Wit Group/2, nearest. A Teacher may be any character, whether controlled by a player or the Gamesmaster, who hasaCornmunicativeTalent greater than zero. An ordinary Teacher has a higher score in the Skill being taught than any of the students. The score of the students may not exceed the Teachers score while they are Studying under him. An Expert Teacher will have the maximum score in the Skill to be taught. A Gifted Teacher has a Communicative Talent greater than 10. Some Skills require proper facilities in order to be learned at the normal rate. Combat Skills require the weapons to be used. Knowledge-based Skills require reference books. Equipment-utilizing Skills requiretheequipment thatwill be utilized. The absence of such things will act as a Learning Hindrance. It is up to the Gamesmaster to decide if proper facilities are available when characters are attempting to study a Skill. When a character is Studying a firearm Skill, an expenditure of ammunition is required to prevent a Learning Hindrance. The additional expenditure of another unit of ammunition will act as a Learning Aid. Onlyone Learning Aid may be gained in this way during a Study week. The unit of ammunition will vary according to the firearm Skill being Studied. For non-automatic weapons five rounds are required to makea unit. Automatic weapons will multiply this figure by the average burst size of the weapon used to Study with. Heavy weapons require a three round expenditure.
Expert Teacher Gifted Teacher Characters Governing Talent is greater than 0 Character is Studying a language in current local use Character is Studying a firearm Skill & expends one unit of ammunition over the required amount
LEARNING HINDRANCES
Solo Study (no teacher available) Proper facilities unavailable Character is studying an ancient language no longer in use Characters Governing Talent for the Skill being Studied is less than 1 Character is acting as a Teacher during the Study period The Skill being Studied is not a Freely Improvable Skill for the character Character is Wounded for at least part of the week Character is Seriously Wounded for at least part of the week Character does not have the required score in a Prerequisite Skill Character does not make unit expenditure of ammunition while studying a firearm Skill
2 2 2 2
3
2 2 3
tt
Optional Learning Hindrances
2 Current Skill score areater than 50 3 Current Skill score Greater than 75 * Once per week only. * * Study not allowed.
OPTION INITIAL SCORE IN NEW SKILL

When a character Studies a new Skill and has a months worth of Study period all together, he may acquire an initial score in the Skill rather than the value that would accrue through normal Study. Each Hindrance that applies will reduce the initial value by half. If the character would gain a higher score by using normal methods of Study, he may do so.
OPTION IMPROVEMENT OF ATTRIBUTES THROUGH LEARNING

Each time a character achieves another point of BCS, he may add .05 to the Governing Attribute. No value is received for the fractional scores until a full Attribute point is accumulated. The Governing Attribute for a Skill is the one that appears first in the calculation for the initial score in that Skill. It does not matter if the score sufficient for the increase in the characters Basic Chance of Success is the result of Learning-by-doing or Study.
OPTION INCREASE OF TALENTS THROUGH LEARNING

Each time a character reaches maximum score in a Skill, he has a chance of increasing his score in the Governing Talent. To do this he must roll 1D100 and consult the Reaction Table presented in Appendix 1 of this Book. I f the
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die roll indicates a Good or Excellent reaction the character will increase his score in the Governing Attribute by one point. Harmon has decided he will Study Lockpicking Skill for the next four weeks. His current score is 32 and BCS is 6. Harmons Learning Rate is 3. He is still mending from his last adventure and is Wounded during the first week which gives him a Hindrance of 2. Fortunately he was able to find a teacher. For the first week, his score is increased by 312 or 1.5. The second week he is n o longer Wounded since he has fully healed in the previous week. This removes the Hindrance and the accumulated increase to his score is 1.5 plus the Learning Rate for the second week of 3 for a total of 4.5. The next two weeks pass in a similar fashion, adding a further 6 points for a final total of 10.5 points. Since the time allocated to study is over, the decimal is rounded down to 10 points. His score in Lockpicking Skill is now 42. I f the Option for improvement of attributes is in effect, Harmon will add. 1 to the governing Attribute of Deftness since he has increased his BCS by2. ( 2 x .5 equal .1). Later that year, Harmon acts as a Teacher for Sam in Lockpicking Skill. Sams Learning Rate is 3 and he is only studying with Harmon. Harmon is also studying with a Gifted Expert Teacher in Safecracking Skill in which Harmon already has a score of 88. Sams Mechanical Talent is 1 1 and, since i t is the Governing Talent for Lockpicking Skill, he receives a plus one to his Learning Rate. He is not suffering under any Hindrances and thus has a Learning Rate adjusted to 4 points per week. At the end of four weeks he would have a score of 16. I f the initialscore for a months study Option is in effect, Sams initial score would be Deftness + Wit + Mechanical. In Sams case, this would give him 10 + 15 + 1 1 or 36. he would be allowed to have a score of 36. I f Harmon had not improved his score earlier that year, Sam would have been limited to 32 points since that was the score of his Teacher. Harmon,because he is Teaching and Studying at the same time, will have a Hindrance with a value of 3. His base Rate is 3. The Gifted Expert Teacher adds 2 to the base. Since the Learning Rate plus the value of any Aids is divided by thd value of any hindrances to give the adjusted Rate, Harmon will have an adjusted Learning Rate of ( 3 t 2 ) / 3 or 1.7. After four weeks, this totals to a score increase of 6.8, rounded down to 6. His score is increased to 94. I f the Attribute increase Option is in effect, Harmorr will increase the Governing Attribute of Deftness by
IMPROVING ATTRIBUTE SCORES

Attribute scores can be improved by diligent work over a Study period of one month. At the end of this period, the character will increase his score in the Attribute chosen by one point. Once a character passes certain breakpoints in the aging process, a die roll on the Reaction Table will be required. The number needed will depend on thecharacters age. The age to be considered here is the characters effective age. Use the Table below: Characters effective age under 40 40 to 49 50 to 59 60 to 69 70 or older required to gain the point automatic Mediocre resu It Good result Excetlent result die roll of 100
Supervision of the characters regimen by a character (it may be himself) with Therapy Skill will allow a character under the age of 40 a chance at a second point of increase. The character with Therapy Skill must make his BCS roll and the character in training must roll on the Reaction Table as if he were 40 years old and attempting to gain his Attribute point. If the character is already 40 or older, a successful utilization of Therapy Skill will add the Effect Number (the die roll subtration from the BCS) to the die roll on the Reaction Table. Various drugs, herbal preparations and similar items or processes can have an effect on attempts to gain Attribute Points. These effects will be detailed when the specific item or process is presented.
EFFECTS OF AGE ON ATTRIBUTES

At the age of 40 characters begin to show the effects of aginq. Once a character reaches 40, he will no longer automatically gain a point when he works to improve an Attribute. At four year intervals beyond that, until he reaches 80, at which time the intervals are reduced to two years, he will undergo a round of aging. The effects are detailed below: Age 44, 48, 52, 56 60, 64, 68 Effects +2 to each Mental Attribute; -1 to each Physical Attribute. -2 to each Physical Attribute; a Reaction roll is made and the results are interpreted as follows: worse than Bad -4 to Mental Attributes Bad -2 to Mental Attributes -1 to Mental Attributes Poor Mediocre no change to Mental Attributes Good +1 to Mental Attributes Excellent +2 to Mental Attributes 72, 76 -4 to Physical Attributes; a Reaction roll is made as above to determine the effects on Mental Attributes, a -10 modification is made to the die roll. 80, 82, 84, etc. -6 to the Physical Attributes; a Reaction Roll is made as above but a -20 modification is made to the die roll.
.05.
I f Harmon had not been acting as a Teacher during those four weeks his Learning rate would have effectively been 5 and in four weeks he would have accumulated 20 points. This would have made his score 108. Since Safecracking Skill is a format 1 Skill, its maximum score is 100. Harmon would not even have had to spend the fourth week studying Safecracking Skill. He could have Studied something else and still perfected his skill. I f the Option for improving Talents is in effect, Harmon would have a chance to improve the Governing Talent for Safecracking Skill which is Mechanical. Harmons player would roll l D l 0 0 and consult the Reaction Table. A die roll of 97 would be an Excellent result and Harmon could add one to his Mechancial Talent.
Modifiers to the Attribute scores are made to each of the Attributes of that type. If any Attribute is redcued to zero or below by the effects of aging, the character is consider to have died from old age.
IMPROVING OFF-HAND DEXTERITY

Off-hand Dexterity is treated as if it were a Physical Attribute for purposes of improvement and aging effects.
QUANTIFYING THE ENVIRONMENT

There are various factors present in the adventure environment that have to be quantified t o deal with in terms of the game. These include barriers t o the passage of a character or his projectiles, tools and their effects, and the dangers of such things as acid and fire. Each of these will be dealt with in this section. Any non-living thing that acts can be rated as having a BAP, an MNA and a PCA. This covers such things as elevator doors, strobe lights, falling bricks, etc. Such things can be designed by the Gamesmaster to suit the situation. Fire against target behind an opaque barrier will be considered as if the firer were blind. Target behind a translucent barrier or targets whose position is essentially known (i.e., behind a firing port) will cause the firer to have a modification as i f he were partially blind. Some materials are considered capable of completely stopping projectile fire short of heavy weapons. These materials are identified by a * in front of the Barrier Factor. The Barrier Factor for these materials is used for rating the strength of the material's resistance to attempts to break it down, dig through it or penetrate it with heavy weapons fire. Some of the materials listed below may not be present in a particular campaign but are listed here for convenience of reference. When dealing with the demolition of a barrier to allow the characters access to the other side, the elimination of barrier points equal to the strength for the appropriate thickness of the material is considered to open a one meter by one meter space. A five or ten minute Tactical Turn is suggested. Some materials such as stone or metal, will not be penetrated by characters without the proper tools. Gamesmasters are advised to use their discretion.
BARRIERS
Various materials are rated for a Barrier Factor. This number represents the barrier effect of 1 inch of the material. To determine the value of a barrier of something like awall or a door, determine the materials that compose it and their thicknesses. Multiply each thickness by the Barrier Factor of the material and sum the results for all the materials involved. This will yield the overall barrier effect of the wall or door. Any gumhots that hit a barrier will have their Bullet Damage Group reduced by the overall barrier effect. If the Bullet Damage Group is reduced to zero or below the bullet will not penetrate the barrier. If it is not reduced t o zero, any target struck will only receive theeffect of the reduced Bullet Damage Group. A muscle powered missile weapon will have its effective Strength Group reduced by 1 for each 5 points of Barrier Factor. This works in a fashion similarto the rangeeffects on such weapons. Hand-to-hand weapons which strike a barrier must succeed in penetrating a barrier. When the barrier is struck the damage done by the attack is assessed against the Barrier Factor. Any points in excess of the Factor may be applied as Damage Potential to a Location on the other side of the Barrier
DOORS AND LOCKS

A door is considered to have a basic barrier effect equal to the Barrier Factor of the material times the thickness of the door. This has no effect if the door is opened. I f the door is secured in some fashion, this barrier effect plus the barrier effect derived from the means by which the door,is secured must be overcome in order to open the door. Breaking in the door is accomplished by having characters roll Strength Ability Saving Throws. U p to two characters can attack a normal sized door at once. When a character is successful, he will roll his normal Effect Die. The results of the die roll are subtracted from the door's barrier effect. A character who rolls a one will add one to his Strength Group to determine the Effect Die for this attack only. A character who makes this type of attack against a door will, take one point of subdual damage. A die roll of 20 will cause the character 1D6 of subdual damage. When the total of the Effect Die rolls exceeds the barrier effect of the door it has been broken down. Such attacks may be directed at the means of securing the door, i f it is known and the die roll for the character's attack falls in his Critical Saving Throw range. I f the die roll falls in the Ability Saving Throw range, the overall barrier effect is attacked instead. Should the barrier effect of the securing method be overcome before the overall barrier effect is reduced, the method of securing the door (lock, crossbar, wedged chair, etc.) will be presumed defeated and the door may be opened. Locks are rated in three ways: by type. complexity, and barrier strength. The type of lock will indicate what Skill the character will need to overcome it. The complexity represents the amount of difficulty the character will have in overcoming it. The barrier strength is the amount of barrier effect the lock will have when used to secure a door. Standard locks that open with a key require Lockpicking Skill to overcome. The complexity of the lock will be subtracted from the Character's Basic Chance of Success. Each time the character makes a successful BCS roll, he will roll the Effect Die for his Deftness Group. This is the amount
BARRIER FACTOR OF MATERIALS

Material Barrier Factor per inch
5 20 25 20 15 20 30 40 *60 5 10 20 '40
8
Glass Glass, safety Glass, shatter resistant Heavy Leather Light Leather Metal, veneer Metal, light Metal, heavy Metal, hardened or structural Plastic, light Plastic, medium Plastic, heavy Plastic, structural Sand Soil Stone Wicker Wood, veneer Wood, solid Wood, plywood
variable 8 to 20 '30
10
5 10 20
46
of the lock's barrier strength that is reduced. When the barrier strength is reduced to zero or below the lock will be open. Combination locks require Safecracking Skill. One successful BCS roll is required for each digit in the Combination. The complexity of the lock is subtracted from the character's Basic Chance of Success. Onceeach number of the combination has been derived, the lock is open. No barrier effect need be overcome. Specialized forms of locks may be present in the campaign. These will be presented along with the skills needed to overcome them later in the rules. For now a simplified selection of sample locking mechanisms is presented below. The time involved in attempts to break down adoor or pick a lock will be highly variable. It is left to the Gamesmaster to decide just how long an attempt will take. In general, the time required to make an attempt to bash a door will be less than the time required to attempt to pick the lock. Only a few seconds are required to hurl yourself at a door but five minutes spent working at picking a lock which is not particularly complex is not unusual.
TOOLS AND THEIR USE

In general tools are designed to make a person's work easier. The use of the proper tools in any of the operations mentioned above will enable the character to have a greater effect against the barrier impeding him. Levers, such as crowbars, will act as multipliers of a character's Effect Die roll when attacking the barrier effect of a door. Lockpicking tools can give a modification to the BCS and act as a multiplier to the Effect Die roll of a character picking a lock. A device to increase the hearing of a character engaged in opening a combination lock will increase his Basic Chance of Success. A shovel will act as a multiplier to the Effect Die roll for a character who is digging in the earth. The exact effects of the tools that are available will be given in the equipment lists in Book 2. The characters have found a one half inch thick door of oak. I t is closed and locked. Unknown to them the door is also barred on the other side by an inch thick iron rod. The door is a heavy wood (Barrier Factor o f 10) and is one half inch thick for a barrier effect of 112 times the base Factor. This yields a value of 5. The bar is of a heavy metal and is one inch thick and so will add its Barrier Factor to the overall effect. This is 40 and so the total barrier effect is 50. Harmon the Picklock attempts to open the lock using Lockpicking Skill. His BCS is 8. the complexity of the lock is 0 and will have n o effect on Harmon's BCS. The die roll is a 10. So the
Gamesmaster declares that after five minutes Harmon still has not opened the lock. Harmon tries again. This time the die r o l l is 4. Harmon will roll the Effect Die for his Deftness Group. Since his Group is 3, Harmon will roll 1010. The result is 1. He is using high quality professional lockpicks and these will multiply his result by 2. This gives an accumulated effect o f 2. The lock is still not open but i t is o n its way. I f the characters attempt to bust through the door at this point the lock willstilladd its full value to the barrier effect. Harmon continues. A die roll of 7 indicates success again. The Effect Die result is a 6 this time and the multiplier of the tools is not even needed. The lock is open. Harmon smiles and turns the handle. The smile fades when he discovers that the door will not open. They must resort to bashing the door down to get through. The door h3s i t overall barrier effect reduced by the value of the lock to 45.Jo (STR equals 32) and Sal(STR equals 15) attempt to bash the door. Each rolls a Strength AST. The die rolls are 12 and 3 respectively. Both have succeeded. Each rolls the Effect Die for the proper Strength Group, 206 and 1 D10 respectively. The results are 10 and 5 for a total reduction to the barrier effect of 15. The door is still in place. Again they try and again they succeed. This time the Effect Die rolls are 8 and 4. The barrier effect has been reduced to 18. A third attempt has Jo succeding and rolling an Effect Die result of 9. Sal rolls a 20 on the Saving Throw and takes 106 of subdual damage. The barrier has been reduced to 9 points. They try again. This time Jo misses his Strength Saving Throw. Sal however rolls a 1. This allows her to raise her effective Strength Group by 1 for determining the Effect Die. For this attempt she will roll 1 D l 0 instead of 106. The die result is 9 and the door is burst open. Since they have made four attempts, each character is given 4 points of subdual by the Gamesmaster. Sal, having rolleda20, takes an additional 106 of subdual damage points. I f the characters had elected to fire a bullet through the door, the BOG of the round would have only been reduced by the barrier effect of the door itself ( 5 ) .
FIRE AND ITS EFFECTS

The rules concerning fire will deal primarily with its use as a weapon. Fire is rated as having a strength group based on its initial temperature range at first exposure. From this strength group rating, an Effect Die will be derived in the usual fashion. A low temperature flame, such as an alcohol flame, has a rating of 2. A normal fire hasa rating of 3. Whilea high temperature flame (temperature greater than 200 degrees Centigrade) hasa rating of 4. Simpleapplication of a
SAMPLE LOCKING MECHANISMS

Mechanism
small key lock standard key lock heavy key lock 3 digit combination 3 digit heavy combination 4 digit combination bank vault digits in combination locks can vary greatly wedged chair crossbar rusted mechanism
Skill needed
Lockpicking Lockpicking Lock picking Safecracking Safecracking Safecracking Safecracking none allowed none allowed none allowed
Complexity
0 1-3 1-6 0-5 1-5 1-10 11-16
Barrier Strength
5 10 20 10 20 20 50-200 10 varies by size and material of bar 5
flame will cause no significant effects unless the Armor Value on the target Location is exceeded by the Effect Die roll. Then the effects will vary by the type of material involved. Continued exposure will have varied effects depending on the type of protection being worn. The result of a Critical Hit by a character armed with a fire weapon will be that the target Location will be subject to the rules for continued exposure begining on the bookkeeping phase of that Combat Turn. Damage by fire is lethal damage.
armor material is considered to be of the type that covers the greatest number of Locations.
FIRE AND BARRIERS

Fire will attack barriers that are composed of combustible materials. On each turn of continued exposure of the barrier the fires rating will be increased by one Group. When the cumulative total of the Effect Die rolls exceeds the barrier effect, the barrier will have burned down. The fire will continue to burn on successive turns with its rating being reduced by one Group each turn until it reaches zero, at which time the fire will extinguish due to lack of fuel. It is suggested that a Gamesmaster use a Tactical Turn of 10 minutes in calculating the effects of fire used against barriers.
FIRE AND ARMOR MATERIALS

For the purposes of how they are affected by fire all armor materials are broken down into groups. The basic two are Non-metallic and Metallic. Some campaigns may have other classes of material such as Plastic, Magical, etc. The reaction of such types of materials will be presented along with the other specifics regarding the particular type of material. Non-metallic materials will stop damage from an applied flame in the usual fashion. If however, the Damage Done by the flame attack is greater than twice the Armor Value of the material, it is considered destroyed beginning on the next phase. If the rating of the flame exceeds the Armor Value on the Location, the character is considered to have caught fire and will be subject to the rules for continued exposure. For each turn of continued exposure, the fire will increase its strength rating by one before determining its Effect Die. Armor will not protect a character who has caught fire. A character may extinguish the flame by falling to the ground and rolling about. This requires a full Combat Turn of activity. A character will reduce the rating of the flame by his Maximum Number of Actions. If he begins the process in the middle of a Combat Turn, the reduction will be equal to the number of Actions the character could still perform in that Turn. This reduction of the fires rating takes place before the fires rating is increased for that Turn. Once the rating is reduced to zero of below the fire is considered out. If a character is ignited in more than one Location, only the strongest flame need be extinguished although both will cause damage to the character. Any characters aiding a victim who is on fire will add to the chances of extinguishing it. Their ability to reduce the fires strength is the same as i f they were trying to put out a fire on themselves. Any character attempting to aid a burning character will be subject to an attack by the fire at one less strength rating i f the fire is not out at the end of any turn on which the helping character is involved in the process. Once the fire is out, all non-metallic materials will have their Armor Values reduced by the highest strength rating the fire achieved. Metallic materials will resist the effects of an applied flame as they would any normal attack. They will not ignite nor will they be destroyed by the flame. On continued exposure to fire, they will provide protection from damage until such timeas the Effect Die roll of the flame exceeds the Armor Value. After that point, metallic material will provide no protection from fire damage until it is cooled. Once the fire is extinguished (see above) the material will continue to cause damage as if the fire was continuing at its greatest strength. On each turn starting with the bookkeeping phase of the turn on which the fire was extinguished, the strength rating will be reduced by 1 and the correct Effect Die roll will be made. When the fires strength is reduced to zero the armor is considered cooled off. Cooling agents such as water may be used to hasten the rate of cooling. The exact effects are left to the discretion of the Gamesmaster. After the fire is out and the metal has cooled, all Armor Values will be reduced by the greatest strength rating achieved by the fire. If the characters whole body is exposed to flame the Average Armor Value is used to defend against the fire. His
SMOKE AND ITS EFFECTS

Smoke will affect visibility and act as a narcotic poison with a serious effect at the Crisis stage. The rating of the density of the smoke is left to the Gamesmaster as the variables due to air flow, materials being burned, concentration, etc. are highly dependent on the situation. A density of one yields Dim Light conditions; two yields Poor Light; three yields Darkness; and four results in effective blindness. If light conditions are already less than perfect, they will be reduced further by the number of steps equal to the smoke density. Smoke, as a narcotic poison, has an Aerosol Vector. Its strength is equal to its density. It has an Incubation Period of a number of Combat Turns equal to the characters Health Critical Saving Throw minus the density of the smoke. No specific Attributes are attacked. The Cycle time is one Combat turn. Once the character reaches the Crisis stage, the poison will continue to attack by causing subdual damage to the character equal to the result of the Effect Die roll. When the cumulative total of these subdual points exceeds the characters Damage Resistance Total the character will die of smoke inhalation. Removal of the character from the smoke will halt the process at whatever stage it is in. A Health Ability Saving Throw, attemptable each Combat Turn, will allow the character to throw off the effects except for any subdual points received after the Crisis point. This subdual damage may be healed in the normal way.
ACID AND ITS EFFECTS

These rules deal with theeffectsofastrongacid,orforthat matter a strong base, on a character/or his clothing and armor. Acids are rated for their strength and have the equivalent of an Incubation Period. When a character gets acid on his person, it will have no effect until the end of the Incubation Period. Once that period is over, the Gamesmaster will roll the Effect Die forthe Group corresponding to the acids current strength. The die result will indicate a reduction in the Armor Value of the material covering the target Location. Once the Armor Value is reduced to zero, the character will take any further points as lethal damage. The armor is permanently destroyed. The acid will continue to attack in this fashion on the bookkeeping phase of each Combat Turn. After each attack the strength of the acid is reduced by 1. When the acid has a strength of zero the attacks will stop. At any time, the application of a base will reduce the strength of the acid by its own strength rating. If a character is struck in Location 2 by acid, some special effects may occur. If thecharacter has no protection from the fumes, he will be subject also to an attack of the acid as a Lethal, Aerosol Vectored poison. This poison will have no Incubation Period, a strength equal to the strength of the
acid minus one and a Cycle Time of one Combat Turn. The poison has n o target Attributes. See the section on poisons on page 41 for the mechanics of dealing with poison. A character will be partially blinded during the period that hte poison is active in his system. If the character takes damage to Location 2, he will be subject to a roll o n the Acid Special Effects Table. Any damage done to that Location will be added to the result of the roll of 1D l O O and the result checked o n the Table.
EXAMPLES OF SPLASH AND SPREAD RESULTS

T
V L
--
Thrower Target Landing hexdue to miss Lineof trajectory
S 1 S2
First hex of Splash Second hex of Splash - hexs of spread on each Combat Turn
2 HEX SPLASH IN LINE OFTHROW
ACID SPECIAL EFFECTS TABLE

D100 Special Effect 01-30 No serious effect
31-60 Extensive scarring. Decrease the character's Looks category by the strength of the acid when it began its attack. 61-70 Character's sense of smell is impaired. 71-80 Character's sense of taste is impaired. Character will also have a speech problem. 81-90 Character is blinded in one eye. 91-95 Character is blinded in both eyes. 96-00 Roll twice for effects ignoring die rolls over 95. It is left to theGamesmastertoadjudicatetheresultin subsequent adventuresof thecharacter's impairment in smell, taste, hearing or speech. Other effects are self explanatory. In all cases, the character will be left with sufficient scars to be considered a distinguishing mark.
2 HEX SPLASH WITH SECOND NOT IN LINE OF THROW
SPLASHING RESULTS
When a character is hit by a flask of acid, flaming oil or some other such nasty thing, it will affect the target Location and 0-2 contiguous Locations. The number of Locations is determined by rolling 1D3 and subtracting 1. The exact Locations are to be determined by the Gamesmaster according to the circumstances and the position of the character being struck. When such nasties impact o n the ground they will affect the target hex and 0-2 additional hexes. The first additional hex will be in the line of the throw. There is a50% chance that the second will also be in the line of the throw. Otherwise it wiil be adjacent to the first hex of splash. See illustration. Such things will spread further on the next Combat Turn unless eliminated by dousing or counteracting. The second turn spread will be to all hexes contiguous to the original hexes and have a rating for strength equal to the nasty's current strength minus 1. If this reduces the strength t o zero there is no spreading effect.
49
ON BEING A PLAYER
Your old buddy, Joe Gamesmaster has invited you over one evening for a session of something called a Role Playing Game Whassa Role Playing Game? When you get there, Fred and Charley are sitting on the sofa, talking about last week, when they opened the door and killed 4 or 6, nowaittaminnit, did they say ORCS? Joe is sitting in a corner, half buried behind a wall of papers, charts, graphs, and assorted stuff, punching his calculator and fiddling with some little plastic doodads that look like weird dice (at least he is rolling them and looking at numbers on their sides). Of course, he always was into weird cults. Maybe this is a new religious kick. What you dont see, and this puzzles you, is a board, darts, hockey sticks, a catchers mitt, or anything else to give you a clue as to just what kind of game a Role Playing is. You may, at this point, be justified in whimpering, NOW what have I gotten myself into? Well, it actually isnt as bad as that. First thing, if Joe is a hardshell Gamesmaster, he probably has explained what Role Playing is until youre ready to slug him. In any case, he probably filled you in over the phone, and you know how such games work, to a degree. I f not, then read the introduction to Role Playing in this book, paqe 1. What we are going to look at with a bit more detail here is just what your job is, as a Player in an on-going Campaign. In designing yourearly Characters, it will be wise to try and foresee just what abilities a high score will buy you, not to mention what a low score will d o to your Characters survival potential. It is unlikely that you will come anywhere near an optimum design in the early stages. Of course, it can be interesting to construct a Character who is markedly low in some areas, with near-superhuman scores in others, just to see how far he gets. If the Gamesmaster permits multiple Characters o n one Adventure, fascinating results can be obtained by designing a team: two Characters who between them comprise a mix of high scores, in the tradition of Fritz Leibers Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. After setting the basic Attributes, most Games, including ours, will derive certain secondary traits from these scores. We call these Abilities. Again, the Player should familiarize himself with just what these Abilities control in play, so that he can fiddle them into acceptable shape. Discovering that you really murdered some Ability score may cause you to go back and adjust the Attribute allocation. This is perfectly legitimate at this stage of the game. In our Game system, the next stage is the generating of the Talents, inherent aptitudes o n the part of the Character. The rules governing Talents are on page 7 of this book, but as stated there, the manner in which the scores are generated are Campaign dependent, to be found in Book 2.: The Gamesmaster may have altered this system to fit his particular Campaign, and this should be checked first. Again, as you allocate the Talent scores, try and foresee how they will affect the Character you want to portray. A hardened warrior will, or should have, a significant Combatative score. The scholar will have a high score in Scientific and Communicative talent, and so on. The basic process ofbeing born as a Character covers all of this preliminary allocation of scores to the Attributes and Talents, and the derivation of the dependent Abilities. It provides a rough picture of the physical and mental natureof the Character.
READ THE GAME

It is probably a good start to skim through the rules, if you havent done so yet. You probably cant read the wholething yet, as parts of the Game are For Gamesmasters Only! Pay particularly close attention to rules on how to design a Player Character, because that is your first big job in any Role Playing Game.
BEING BORN
Ideally, the Gamesmaster should hold a special Character Design session before presenting the Players with their first adventure, orScenario. At this point, he and his Players go over the basic rules, clear up any overall questions on procedure, and design at least one Character for every Player. It is probably advisable that each Player have two Characters to start with, so that asad mishap part of the way through the first scenario will not leave the Player with nothing to do for the rest of the evening. O n the other hand, it may be desirable to limit the first adventure to one Character per Player. This will permit the participants to concentrate o n properly handling their figures without trying to keep both Characters going at the same time. The final say o n the Character to Player ratio for a given adventure is the Gamesmasters. The first step in building a Character is quantifying his physical and mental traits. This usually includes such characteristics as physical strength, reaction speed, intellect, and so on. Some games assign a random score, rolled on dice, to these areas. Other, including this one, give Players a basic number of points which they may allocate among the Characters traits pretty much as they please. The idea behind this system is to permit the Player to build what he conceives to be the ideal hero. It will soon become apparent that you cannot make the Character above the average in one area without putting some other Attribute below the norm. See page 4 of this book for the detailed rules on designing these physical and Mental Attributes.
GROWING UP
The next step in Character design takes the Player through what we call the Pre-Adventure period. This can be fairly detailed, providing for the social standing of the Character, his early training in schools or military service, or what have you. Or it may be an abstract, generating a given number of years, and the things acquired in those years, which the Player may turn intoskills, knowledge, and cash. Again, the final form is Campaign dependent, and options should be checked with the Gamesmaster. Opportunities will exist to improve the Attributes, and to acquire Skills. See page 11 of this book for a description of skills and how they work. It is at this point that the Player needs to really think out the question of what he feels this Character is like: what personal goals has he set for himself, what were his formative years like? Should he concentrate on the Combat Skills, having the Character begin to acquire mastery of the arms of his culture? Or is the Character more studious, a scholar of the mysteries of nature, science, and philosophy? has he studied the arts of the thief, mastering locks and stealth, or, if the Campaign admits of such arts, the dark knowledge of the occult? In other Games, the usual technique is to have the Player assign his Character a profession, which defines theskills available to him. We offer
50
the ability to pick freely what areas your Character can enter, and in the future, if he lives, he can branch out into other, unconnected, fields of endeavor. Upon finishing the Pre-Adventure, the Character is fully designed on the outside. He will have achieved his fullest development in his inherent and acquired capabilities, and can only go further after entering the danger fraught world of an adventurer. There will remain only one step more.
Characters personality than one which merely follows the dictates of expedience. The Gamesmaster should reward such consistency of Play in subtle but suitable ways.
BEING A HERO
One thing about Role Playing Games that can confuse the new Player is the fact that the Games never end, there is not real way to lose, except to die, and no final winner, except those who survive. Sometimes even a Characters death can be a victory, if it is heroic. It is necessary to understand that the essence of Role Playing is autobiographical. Players and Gamesmaster are combining to write the life history of the Characters, who are presumed to be heroic in stature. A biography may be episodic, with the high points of the subjects career providing plateaus in the storyline, but the book never ends until the subject is dead. In a full Campaign, where Players have other Characters operating, the loss of one particular figure ends his story, but there are others ready to fill the gap, with ongoing sagas of their own, and the overall flow of things is not interrupted. In order for the Characters to develop along these heroic lines, it will be best form the Campaign to all epic scope. Not that it need encompass huge territories or immense conflicts, but the challenges to the heroes must allow them to face and overcome greater-than-normal challenges, just as their training gives them greater than normal potential. A reading of heroic literature will provide the Gamesmaster and Players with a view of what this entails. We might suggest: -The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer -Malorys Morte DArthur, and the related Arthurian works of de Troyes and the trouveres, and von Eschenbach and the minnesaenger. -Modern heroic fantasy, in all its legions, led by Robert E. Howard, Poul Anderson, Alan Burt Akers, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, Roger Zelazny, et al. All of these, and other works, illustrate the concept of the hero in a vital and entertaining manner, and the sensitive reader will come away with a powerful impetus in his playing style, with the all-important realization that death only hurts a little, and glory lives on forever. It is easy to slip into a one-dimensional value system in a Role Playing Game. The term hero embraces the Bad Guys as well as the Good. The latter can be narrow-minded, callous, self-righteous and vindictive. Galahad, in the various Grail legends, is such a one at times. Villains, contrariwise, can be generous, brave, noble, merciful to foes, honest and honorable. Observe the traitor, Lord Gro, and even his necromantic master, King Gorice of Witchland. in Eddisons The Worm Ourobouros. The greatness of heroes is proved only when they fight equally great villains. So let the Players demand the utmost of the Gamesmaster in the challenges they face, and as long as he keeps the abilities of the Player-Character in mind, let the Gamesmaster in kind. Apply courage, cunning, and honor in equal parts when playing, according to your Character and the Campaign, and even if you lose, you will win the Game. Because played in this light, you will find it an exhilarating and cathartic exercise in imagination and vicarious excitement. And that is how to really win in Role Playing: ENJOY!
GETTING YOUR HEAD OM

As mentioned o n page 2, it is the view of the authors that enjoyable Role Playing implies that the Player tries to think like the Character while playing, reacting to events as he would. To do this consistently, implies that the Player has put some thought into the psychology of his Character. Now, from the design of Attributes and Talents, along with such ancillary data as physical appearance and size, the Player has a decent picture of what the Character looks like. From the Pre-Adventure, he knows what areas the Character has studied, what abilities he has specialized in. As stated earlier, the hinge-pin of all these earlier decisions is the question what do you want the Character to be able to do? Putting all these factors together, the Player can begin to move in on the concept of what kind of person his Character is. The usual pattern we have seen in playtesting indicates that, at first, Characters tend to be very like the Player who design them. But soon, for various reasons, there will spring up a crop of Characters with unique personalities, sometimes diametrically opposed to the Players own values. One of our playtesters has a Character of long-standing, initially a fairly benign if not overly brave type, who commited an act of cowardice in a tight spot. Surviving the ordeal by these means, he has since developed a number of curious traits by betraying his initial principles, and now is quite powerful, but at the cost of his humanity. The Character in question now is motivated by a series of values foreign to the Player who designed him, and is tormented by the conflict between what he was and what he is. The psychological price of his achievements in terms of inherent human characteristics has generated some actions in play which revolt theother participants. But theadventuresof this figure are fascinating, and his saga is not dull. I f his dilemma does not destroy him, his future promises to be equally interesting. Now that case evolved as a Character found his original values unstable in the face of stress. Sincethen, Players have reported equally interesting results to be obtained by designing Characters who are, from the outset, completely unlike themselves, even Characters whom they find unsympathetic, but who fit a heroic image that interests the Player. This is an attitude that should be encouraged. If Role Playing Games have a value beyond sheer entertainment, then it is in this: Players are given some insight into the workings of human psychology under stress, and hopefully come from the experience with a better and more tolerant understanding of how they and their fellows respond to such stimuli. So it would seem that theeffort to take a half hour or soand work out the basic values for the Characters is well worth while. And even if the Campaign situation is best served by betraying those values, the Player will find it more enjoyable to try and work out a solution in a manner suitable to the
51
ON BEING A GAMESMASTER
To a new Gamesmaster (and often to an old one) the demandsof the job can makethestrongestquaiI.To beinsole charge of the way a given group plays the Game, tormented by doubts as to whether one is doing it right, whether the Players are enjoying it and what to do for the next Adventure. Its enough to give you gray hairs! Any Role Playing Game depends in large measure on the Gamesmaster. The rules cannot be written to cover every case in detail, and they should not be. The flexibility to meet any demands placed upon the Game system by the requirements of the Players and Gamesmaster is what gives a Game its attraction. For the rest, lots of notepaper, a good imagination (with some cribbing from genre literature), and patience all stand the Gamesmaster in good stead. This overview of the Gamesmasters task is broken down into three broad areas: need to look elsewhere, either by combining two rule systems or else designing the rules yourself. Many Gamesmasters find this latter course more rewarding. Pay attention to the way Characters are designed and operated in the Game. These figures, after all, are the principle medium by which you and your Players will interact. The first thing you will have to help Players do is design at least one Character, and you will also need to prepare your own Characters to people the Campaigns various locales before actually playing. Now re-read the basic rules for common actions in the Game: such activities as fighting, movement, acquiring and using Skills, etc. The contents of this Book will provide that information for this Game. You should know how such things work in some detail, so that a Character can have a fight or cross the street without your needing to look it up in the rules. But do not let this proviso override common sense. Never hesitate to call a halt in play to look up some rule you are unsure of. The little time lost then will save a lot of time (and emotion) later on when someone questions the events of 10 minutes ago as being different in the rules. Another suggestion: Always let players know in advance i f the basic rules for the game have been changed to some variant system. This does not mean you should tell them that a weapon or trap not documented in the rulesbooks is lurking around the corner. That is part of your Campaign and the Players can only find out about it by experience. But if you have designed an alternate method of Combat, the Players MUST know how it operates if they are to use it properly. Lastly, re-read this type of article, aimed directly at giving the Gamesmaster a grasp of how to operate. If you disagree with some suggestion, ignore it. Also read examples of play, especially those written to show what the action looks like from the Gamesmasters point of view.
Before Play: The work involved in setting up the

Campaign. Adventures. Planning individual scenarios for
During Play: Running a playing session. Fairness

doctrines. Secrets and mysterious events. Running Non-Player Characters properly. After Play: Effects of successful Players on the Campaign. The Experience question. Housecleaning the Campaign. We will be dealing in generalities in this Section. Specific cues to Gamesmasters for this particular Game will be found in Book 3. Our goal here is to help the Gamesmaster get a handle on how to organize his work with this (or any other) Game, to set up a working Campaign with the minimum of wasted effort or frustration.
BEFORE PLAY
Lets assume you have never run a role Playing Game before. You have a nice, new Game, not an hour out of the store, box just opened in front of you. Now what?
PLANNING THE CAMPAIGN

Once you have a grasp of the rules, it is time to start considering the Campaign you intend to build. This is the very heart of being a Gamesmaster: creating the fantasy Campaign wherein the Player-Characters will vie for heroic honors. First, consider the overall color of the Campaign. This is in many ways a question of period. In some Campaigns, Gamesmasters have decreed a great mix of cultures. but many prefer their Campaign to center around a specifictime in Earthly history (or the history of their particular world) i f only to keep the possibilities of the Campaign a little more under control. Decide roughly in what period your Campaign is set, this will provide many leads as to details of dress, weaponry, armor, and what Skills and equpment are available to the Characters. The next step is to outline the society in which the Characters live. If your Campaign is indeed on Earth, and in a historical period, a bit research in popular histories or even well-written historical novels will provide all the background you are likely to need. If you are designing an alternate Earth, or a fictional world, you can construct the culture to fit your needs. If you are designing a Campaign to fit a particular fictional world from your favorite books, the source works will provide the atmosphere you want. Slavish concern for historical accuracy is not necessary. If you want to build a Campaign on Earth history, do not feel
READING IT
Quite seriously, the first thing to do is read it. Start with whatever book is labelled #1 and skim through the whole thing, all the books in order. Dont try to bash your memory into retaining all the details at this point. Try and get an overall picture of the following: -What kind of fantasy setting(s) idare approriate for this Game? -Does it lack anything I really want to see done? -How do individual Characters work in the system? -Does it offer any helpful hints to the Gamesmaster in the rules? Now, you probably would not have bought the Game unless you wanted to run a Campaign based on what it simulates. But you wont really know how it operates until you have completed this first read-through. I f you have bought something suitable for Musketeers in the hopes of using it to set up a Wild West Campaign, you missed something somewhere. If the Game has the potential to do what you want, then you are halfway home. Next we look at what specific rules it has, what it might have left out, and what rules you dont care for (too sketchy, too complex, boring etc.). If the rules do not cover something you wanted in the Campaign, then you will
52
you must be absolutely faithful to what was. Often, greater pleasure may be derived in a Campaign based o n what should have been. The classic example is King Arthurs Britain, which should, historically, be set in a Romanized Celtic society around the 7th century. However, most Role Playing Games for Arthurian England are set in the high medieval (14th century) which was the environment used by Malory in his Morte dArthur. What is good enough for literature is surely good enough for gaming purposes.
the correct approach can usually be improvised. Failing that, the Gamesmaster always has the option of pointing out the error to the Players. Again, some Players take one look at the horrifying prospect presented by the scenarios beginning and decide they want no part of it. This can cause problems, and often occurs early on in a Campaign, before the Gamesmaster and Players are at home with each other. This leads us to the whole question of Player enjoyment.
ENJOYING THINGS
There are no compelling reasons for playing games if the participants do not enjoy themselves. Wewill not presume to try and define just what appeals to you in Role Playing. The attractions are so varied that it is not really material what turns you on to them. What is germane is the need for empathy among the garners. If the Players really loathe some type of situation, it behooves the Gamesmaster to think long and hard about using that element of the Game in his Campaign. If the Players are eager to tackle some particular type of adventure, then the Gamesmaster is well advised to quietly draw up a scenario along those lines. But Players should not dictate the course of the Campaign. That is the Gamesmasters domain, and the fun he has planning things is the recompense he receives in lieu of the swashbuckling his Players get to indulge in. If the Gamesmaster plunges the Campaign world into a war, or interdicts travel in certain areas, it is improper for the Players to gripe at him for it. And, just as their Characters may decry fate to no avail, so shall Player complaints about such matters come to naught. The touchiest situation in Player-Gamesmaster relations arises when the Players can justly complain that the Gamesmaster is being unfair. Not in the sense that Fate is unfair when random events plague their Characters, but that the Gamesmaster is deliberately fudging things so that the Characters lose (i.e. die during adventures). The converse is equally ugly: when the Gamesmaster suspects or proves that somebody among the Players is deliberately cheating. The former situation can be due to oversight by the Gamesmaster (Come to think of it, that really was too rough) or a common point of view in Role Playing which we feel is not conductive to enjoyable gaming: when the Gamesmaster feels he is competing with Players, andwins if he can kill off as many Characters as possible. The Gamesmaster should preserve a detached view of the Campaigns progress. What good the Players have accomplished should be rewarded. If they have accomplished something particularly dumb, it should be its own punishment with no extra salt rubbed into the wounds by the Gamesmaster. When Players are deliberately cheating, the rest of the group must exercise its best judgement. I f the offender shows no signs of correcting his behaviour, then he must obviously be barred from further play. Be careful not to jump to the conclusion that someone is trying to pull a fast one when it may be that he is misunderstanding the rules. When something happens in play that should not have occurred under the rules, the Gamesmaster and Players should calmly examine the result. If it is possible to roll the action back to the point where the error occurred and pick it up from there, this is the best solution. If such a decision will adversely affect the sessions play, it is probably best to let things stand. Patience and rational discussion will serve all concerned much better than unfounded accusations. This is a GAME: that implies that it is not worth playing if the rules are not followed, but likewise should preclude severe emotional upsets if things do not always go smoothly. In any case: The Gamesmaster has the FINAL word in resolving all questions of procedure during play.
THE SCENARIO
Once you have the background for the Campaign, which can be as diverse or as limited as you wish although having capacity for expansion as the Campaign proceeds, it is time to turn to the first in a series of design tasks: the scenario. A scenario is the outline of an Adventure in which a group of Player-Characters are going to try and accomplish some goal. This can be fairly open or very specific. The Classic Example of the open scenario consists of sending the party into an elaborate Place of Mystery, (a haunted castle, lost city, derelict starship, or some other place of treasure and danger) to try and survive while they loot the place. Such scenarios are useful, since once the initial design work on the place is finished, it can be used over and over, until looted out. The problem with open scenarioes is that if they are all the Players can tackle, the Campaign tends to get into a rut. Specific scenarios might be described as missions. The Player-Characters have some task to perform. Rescuing the kidnapped princess, bearing the vital dispatches to General Garcia, running Damnation Alley with a truckload of antiplague serum, are classic literary examples of specific scenarios. The advantage is that such adventures give the Players a definite goal to achieve, and permit the Gamesmaster to write a somewhat more detailed storyline. Their main disadvantage is that once accomplished, the scenario cannot be tackled again by the same players.
DURING PLAY
Once the Gamesmaster has a comfortable degree of familiarity with the rules and has prepared a scenario (or decided to use the starting scenario enclosed with this Game), then he is ready to invite the Players over for a session. It is advisable to get your Players together prior to this first adventuring session in order to go through designing a Player-Character, to get the Characters outfitted, to orient Players to your Campaigns history and culture, and to answer questions about the gaming process. If the Players have not bought copies of the Game, they will need to read this book and also Book 2, as well as any other reference materials aimed at the Players. Under n o circumstances should players read Book 3 or other material marked as sacred to the Gamesmaster! They may have read these materials on their own, if they also own copies of the Game, but this should not happen during playing time. If something occurs to allow Players direct reference to some information in Book 3, or other such restricted material, the Gamesmaster can either read it to them, jot down a note, or allow them to look up the particular reference. So, Characters ready and armed with knowledge of their World, the Players wait for the scenario to begin. This can be accomplished in an infinite number of ways. Gamesmasters have been known to offer the opportunity to undertake a scenario as a commission from mysterious, cloaked figures, or by shanghaiing the Player Characters onto a ship which eventually runs aground on a certain uncharted isle, or otherwise contriving to put the adventure in their path, or conversely, put the Characters in the adventures path. Sometimes the Players miss theclues and walk right by the opening of the scenario. A creative way to nudge them into
53
RUNNING THE SESSION

There can be no hard-and-fast rules for the Gamesmaster in the details of running a playing session. Campaign activities will bear the imprint of his own personality modified by the Players who interact with it. The usual manner in which a session in a Role Playing Game runs is as follows: The Players choose their Characters for the scenario to be played. This may be afairly free choice, especially in the early days of the Campaign, or may be restricted by who is in town at that point in the Campaigns calendar, or Time Line. The decision may also be controlled by the past history of the Character(s) involved. In any case, the Players select the Characters suited to the scenario and attend to any outfitting they need and can afford. This is also the time when the Gamesmaster will need to start filling them in on advance information (if any) for that scenario. Once these preliminaries are completed, the adventure begins to move. The Players know their Characters are pushing beyond the boundaries of safetyand civilization and into the realm of imminent danger and fantastic encounters. The gloves come off. The progress of the adventure is conducted by telling each other what is happening. The Gamesmaster tells the Players what is happening around their Characters, and the Players respond by telling the Gamesmaster what their Characters are doing as a result. Players can ask questions, seeking further information about their surrounding or the events confronting them. The Gamesmaster can answer with more detail, relevant clues, irrelevant facts that are indeed evident but have no bearing on anything important. Players cannot ask for information beyond the reach of their Characters senses or knowledge. A classic example is along the lines of:
GAMESMASTER: You enter the building and find yourself facing a solidly closed door. PLAYER: is there anything on the other side? GAMESMASTER: (With a secret smile) You tell me. The Player cannot get an answer until his Character has opened the door and looked inside. Than and only then can he ask if he sees the ravening Siberian Tiger waiting there. The traditional Listening at the Door ploy which might also be used at this point will succeed or fail according to the Tigers behavior, the doors construction, and the doctrine af Hidden Things, explained on page 5 of this book. The Garnesrnaster will be the one who determines if anything was heard, and if so, what. Play continues in this form until the session is over, Basically, nothing that is not stated verbally or in writing is assumed to have happened in the campaign. This requires a good deai of honesty and a fair memory on the part of both Players and Gamesmaster. Characters who, moments before, were stated to be holding aflashlight in one hand and turning a doorknob with the other cannot have a gun in their third hand (?) ready to shoot the critter on the other side of that door as soon as it opens (unless they DO have a third hand). On the other hand (fourth hand?), the Gamesmaster must try and note the things the Players are doing that will affect their vision of things, possibly in ways that the Characters are not even aware of. Assumptions in either case can be dangerous and it is really better to ask just what is going on if doubt exists. As the Campaign proceeds, Players and Gamesmasters will tend to evolve their own conventions for calling their actions. Newcomers to a group should be briefed on such conventions, or they will tend to get confused.
everyone in your Game world.is going to be a PlayerCharacter. There are also the NON-Player-Characters, the Other Guys. The Gamesmaster plays all the Characters in the Campaign not under Player control. Ideally, he will be able to speak/act in character for at least the major membersof his cast. There are several levels of complexity involved with Non-Player-Characters. At the bottom of the list are what we call Extras. These are the non-combatants. When one of them gets in harms way, he is usually doomed. Next are those we call Rabble. Rabble are slightly more resistant to getting offed than Extras. It is usually not necessary for the Gamesmaster to get too involved with characterizations for these types of Non-Player-Characters, as they do not last long enough to develop well. To be brutally frank, their main purpose is to get killed fighting with Player-Characters, or by valiantly joining them against a common foe. Other Non-Player-Characters function exactly as do Player-Characters. In general, the better developed such a Character is, the more detail the Gamesmaster will have designed for his personality and background. At the top of the list one finds the Personality Non-Player-Characters. These are the big-time operators designed by the Gamesmaster to fill particular niches in a given scenario or the Campaign world in general. This bunch includes the great heroes of the Campaign, the ones who have already achieved the heights the Player-Character are after. Of course, the Personality figures also include the Bad Guys, against whom most Player-Characters will find themselves opposed in the scenarioes. (Just reverse certain words in the preceding two sentences if you are dealing with PlayerVi I lains). But besides other human beings, the Gamesmaster will be simulating the behavior of animals and creatures falling into the twilight zone category of monsters. In Book 3 we have provided data in the sections cataloging the non-human Characters as to their general personality traits (if any trend exists), special fighting tactics (how is a lion likely to fight in close quarters?) and other general guides. The Gamesmaster should familiarize himself with these. In general, the same remarks made about Player consistency in portraying their Characters should be observed by the Gamesmaster.
AFTER PLAY
The last section of this article will try and give an overview of the Gamesmasters job in keeping the Campaign going outside of the actual playing time. The care and feeding of Characters as they increase their abilities, the Happening World the Characters live in, the retooling of scenarios in the wake of an invasion by Player-Characters, these will all be touched in the other rulebooks of the set.
KEEPING YOUR BALANCE

Role Playing Games, unlike most other recreations, do not really end. The results of one playing session will permanently affect all subsequent sessions. The main thrust of the Game is biographical, a dramatic creation of the adventurous life of the Player-Character. As Players tackle the really BIG adventures, gaining resources with each one, their actions will start to impact the status of the Campaign as a whole. The Garnesmaster monitors this activity and may exert some control over it as he deems necessary. For example, on an adventure to some remote place of mystery, a Player-Character finds and retrieves a nearly invincible weapon. Consider: now the Player will not be vulnerable to any challenge resolved by combat. WOW, Great, says he! After his 50th easy victory of so, both Player and Gamesmaster will note the loss of a certain charm in the Game. It becomes a sure thing, and what before was a
THE OTHER GUYS (OR GIRLS)

The Stars of the Campaign are, of course, the PlayerCharacters. They are the bozos out to carve themselves a rep. If theysucceed,theywillstartgettingrecognition. But not
54
gamble in the face of death becomes mindless murder. The killing maching the Character has become mows down all opposition. No problem, you may think! Just design some special creature that will be on a par with the Characters ability. Then some other poor shmoe runs into the beastie and dies without a chance. Sorta rough. The above illustration is one of the commoner problems encountered when dealing with Game Balance. As Characters start out in the Campaign, they are not usually equipped with the best they can get. They are not as proficient in their Skills as they might be. They are, in short, easy prey for a really hefty challenge. The early scenarios should reflect this. But as they advance, the Characters will become an altogether tougher proposition and their challenges should increase proportionately. But, there is a point of diminishing returns in all this. Eventually the escalation will either find a new equilibrium (sort of an optimum Level of heroism) of a type suitable for the Campaign milieu, Or the insane arms race will continue, until human capability and valor are incapable of meeting the test. The Gamesmaster must exercise all his judgement and ingenuity to help his Campaign progress smoothly to the fully energized, stable level of heroism, and prevent the runaway development of invincible Characters and unbeatable Monsters to fight them. There will always remain certain areas which are not resolvable by unaided human power. But these are the extremes on the scale. The vast bulk of scenarios will deal with things much closer to its center. Like most other potential trouble spots in thegroup relationships, this can be resolved by talking about it. I f the Players feel threatened by the scenario, not because they are in danger (which is the whole idea) but because they feel they cannot win (i.e. survive), it behooves the Gamesmaster to make sure he has built an adventure resolvable by good play, or at least brave play, rather than a pure deathtrap with no option at all. The exception is the scenario which has been advertised as a real stinker. If the Players undertook it knowing it to be very lethal, then second thoughts are no good. One may be sure the Characters are having them too, but it is a little late for that.
The nature of the Happening World is u p to the Gamesmaster and his imagination. Major news from distant places can be a superlative means of signalling to theplayers that the territory in question is now available for travellers and teeming with fresh opportunities for glory and loot. In many cases, you will also need to work out at least a vague history for the Campaign. How else can one explain how things came to be as they are? The more your Campaign encompasses, the greater the need for a vital, living world to hold it, with its own stream of events. The values it can add to the Campaign are incalculable.
HOUSECLEANING
There comes a sad time in every Gamesmasters career, and usually it is an early experience, when the first adventure set in his carefully constructed Place of Mystery has ended and he must assess the damage. A skillful (or lucky) group of Players can go through the most exquisitely planned labyrinth like army ants, disabling traps, slaying guards, extracting valuables, busting in barriers, scribbling on the walls, littering, you name it. Now you had figured the Place to be good for half a dozen expeditions, but the shape it is in now, a three-year-old with a slingshot could knock it over. What do you do? Your options will vary according to your Campaign. If the Place has any sort of residents, with some access to maintenance gear, they could conceivably reset traps and fix doors, move treasure and post new guards. Invaders who rashly re-visit human establishments will usually find things considerably tightened up since their last raid. If the main villain of the scenario avoided death or capture, he will probably abandon the stronghold if it cannot be re-fortified. Surely he will remember the strangers who wiped out his holding! Likewise, loot missed the first time around will probably not be there if all the defenses have been wiped out. There are jackals who follow the tracks of the Players lions. Specific details will depend soley on the Gamesmasters wit and whim. They will often tie in to the Happenings described above. The same philosophy applies to the more public activities of the Player-Characters. Many cultures have laws regarding such lighthearted pastimesasduels to thedeath, and Players who flout such conventions too often or too openly risk legal sanctions. Again, this is entirely Campaign dependent. Players often seem to forget that the Barbarian societies (socalled) are usually more rigorous in the adherence to custom in such matters than many more civilized ones. Depending on your worlds view of such matters, it may be sheer folly for Player-Characters to try and behave in a town the way they would on an expedition. Some fascinating possibilities are inherent in this concept and a wise Gamesmaster will exploit them fully.
ITS A BIG, WIDE, WONDERFUL WORLD

When you stop to consider it, Player adventurers are very small potatoes as far as most of the inhabitants of the Campaign are concerned. O h sure, the ones directly concerned are convinced of the importance of all these shenanigans, but what does the larcenous activity of a bunch or avaricious mercenaries have to do with the price of potatoes on market day? Not a great deal. As your Campaign grows in scope, the events in its history will assume a life of their own, far removed from theeventsof the scenarios. Nations will go to war (possibly offering employment as soldiers or spies to the Player-Characters. Plagues will ravage certain areas, closing them to free passage. Religious movements, piracy on the coasts, barbarian raids, a multitude of things will testify to the world outside of the adventurers experience. Hopefully, they will want to be a part of this Happening World and become involved in the pulsing heart of affairs in your world. If not, then do not try to force them into the public eye. Not every Cimmerian is born to be a King!
LENVOI
General discussion of the Gamesmasters task could go on indefinitely. Put two of this breed down in a corner somewhere to see a convincing example of verbal perpetual motion. The main precept to remember is this: You will make errors early on in the Campaign. At times you will have no idea what to d o next. It is a big headache of a job. But as things progress, you will find new ideas and fresh insights into the Game process coming to you. It can only get more interesting. It is your world! G o to it.
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REACTION TABLE
DIE RESULT
DESCR lPTl O N
(D100)
VALUE NUMBER
NOTES
01-05
Bad
-6
This is a very hostile reaction. It usually indicates the initiation of action if the overall reaction is unfriendly. If theoverall reaction is friendly, it tends to indicate a lack of interest in continuing to deal with the Player Characters. This is a negative reaction. It can indicate growing hostility. This is a negative reaction. relationship.
It signals a deteriorating
06-1 5 16-30 31-45
Very Poor
-4
-2
Negative Indifference
-1
A n undecided reaction with leanings to the negative This reaction indicates no leanings in one direction or the other. In negotiations, it might call for a period to consider the situation. A n undecided reaction with leanings to the positive. This is a positive reaction. It can signal an improving relationship. This is a positive reaction. It indicates growing friendliness and a willingness to agree. This is a very positive reaction. It tends to indicate willingness and helpfulness. As an initial reaction it may indicate aid is offered freely and before it is requested.
+O
56-70
71-85
86-95
'
Positive Indifference
+1
+2
G: : d o :
+4
96-00
Excellent
+6
The reaction table is used as a guideline t o the reactions of non-player characters whose reactions are not already predicated situation. The Gamesmaster may also use it to give a finer gradation to the reactions of those non-player characters whose general reactions are already assured by the situation. The descriptions of the results of the die roll are given in general to allow theGamesmasterthefreedom totailora response to the particular situation in thegame. Due to the natureof dice, a reaction may swing from one end of the spectrum to the other. I f the Gamesmaster feels that a particular result is wholely unsuitable, he should feel free to reroll until he gets a result that he feels is appropriate. In many cases, a roll on the table to give thegeneral toneof the non-player character's reaction to the Player Characters, or to the situation, makes interpretation of later rol!s easier. An overall reaction of Excellent will probably not lead to an attack with a result of bad unless the non-player character has in some way been betrayed by the Player Characters. The Gamesmaster may feel that the situation surrounding an offer should havean effect on the reaction due to it nature. lnsuch
cases the Gamesmaster should assign a value t o it and add or subtract the value from the die roll to give the result. In all cases it should be remembered that this table is a guideline only and should not b e used slavishly at theexpenseof good role-playing or the progress of an interesting adventure. A Gamesmaster can also use the table in another way when he is at a loss for a way to determine a result of a deliberate action or a chance happening. By treating the dice as a sort of oracle, th? Gamesmaster may phrase a question which can essentially be answered yes or no. The result of the die roll will indicate a positive or negative response. An indifferent response might require the dice to be rerolled. For example, the Gamesmaster might ask: "Did the character's portable lantern get broken by nis fall down the stairs?" A result of "Good" would indicate that it was broken. An "Excellent" result might mean it was smashed beyond repair. A "Poor" result might indicate that it survived the fall but its durability is reduced. whilea "Bad" result would mean that it was not even scratched. If the fall was a particularly lcng one the Gamesmaster might have added the length in meters to the die roll.
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APPENDIX 2
Combat Procedure Flowchart
57
Combat Procedure Flowchart
(continued)
58
/ A
~~
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction. .........................
Age Group.. ........... Origins for Characters Development Points ..... Psychological Profile and Talents Initial Attribute Values Skills Determination ............ Alterations to Attributes.. . . .
............... 2 ............ 2
Firer Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 Firing From Cover ...................... . 3 3 Kneeling 8 Prone Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3 One HandITwo Hand-Offhand . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3 Surprise 8 New Targets.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3 Sighted Fire.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
................... 3 Basic Clothing ...... Initial Armor ........... Initial Equipment ........ Hand-to-hand Combat Skills ...... Muscle Powered Missile Weapons ............ . 5 Non-Technical Physical Skills .... High-Technology Physical Skills .............. 5 Final Calculations ............................. .6 dotes on Character Generation ................ . 6 ple Character .......... .................................. 8 8
.................
Combat Skills . Hand-to-hand
Barter .............................. 51 Trad ....................... 51 Barter Process ............................... . 5 1 Barter Values.. ................................ 51 Guideline Barter Values Clothing and Armor . Guns and Bullets.. ........................ 52 Muscle-Powered Missile Weapons . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 Hand-to-Hand Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 Firearm Ammunition.. .................... .52 Grenades and Explosives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 . Gear and Equipment 53 Armor ..................................... . 5 3 Auto Repair Kits.. .......................... .53 Batteries . . . . . ..................... 53 Books ...................................... 53 Calculators.. . . 54 Chemical Gear 54 Clothing ...... 54 Communications Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Compasses 54 Containers .................................. 54 Decontamination Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4 Drafting Equipment ............... 5 5
BDG (Bullet Damage Group). ................ 3 5 Damage Capability ... ......... . 3 5 Missile Special Effects ......... . 3 5 Ballistic Modifiers ...... ......... . 3 6
....................
.53
.........
......................... ...............
.................0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0
8 8
Unarmed Combat Throw Table.. ......... 11 Muscle Powered Missile Weapons ........... 14 Small Arms ................ Support Weapons .......... Nan-Technical Physical Skills ................. . 1 7 Non-Technical Knowle Technical Physical Ski1 Technical Knowledges ........................ .20 High Technology Physical Skills .............. . 2 2 High Technology Knowledges. ................ . 2 3 Physical Specifications ..................... .24 Barrel Length 24 Encumbrance 24 Gun Action . . 25 Folding Stock (Feature). .................. . 2 5 Ammunition ................................ .25 Caliber 25 Ball and Shot ............................ .25 Magazines ................................ 26 Other Factors The Gun Rules Match Weapons (Feature). ................. 2 7 Range Table ............................. .27 Shot Spacing..
Jacketed Bullets Fragmenting Bul
Tools Grenade Launcher.. ........
...............
.....................
.43
Operating a Vehicle KPH to DAT Move Conversion Tab Maximum Safe Sp Vehicle Type Safe Tactical Travel ............................... Accidents .................................... Accident Type Table
.58 .59
Demolition Skill Unskilled Use
.......................... ..........................
.44 .44
...........................
.28
59 Terrain Danger Factors ...................... Durability Consumptio Explosive Rating . . . Vehicle Safety Devices Firing on Vehicles ............................ .60 Barrier Effect, of Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0 Vehicle Critical Hit Table ................... . 6 1 Hard Targets Special Effects Table ........... 6 1 Anti-vehicle Ammunition. .................... 6 2 Anti-Tank Guided Missiles . . .
Reloading Timetables.
............
Blast Ratings.. ........ Description 01 Explosive Starvation.. . . . Water ....................... About Cannibalism ............................ 65 ............... . 6 5 Survival Skill Weat her. . . . . . . ............... 4 8 Player Characters . . A When Time is Out The Character and the Promise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 7 Practical Considerations ............... 6 8 Appendix 1: Character Generation Checklist. .... .69 Appondlx 2 Skills List.. ........................ .69 Appendlx 3: Armor Materials Appendix 4: Weapons Listing Appendlx 5: Shields ............................ .74 Appendlx 6: Firearm Features.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7 4 'Appendix 7: Sample Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5 Appendlx 8: Glossary.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Who Can Fire a Girn'. .................... . 3 0 Ready Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 0 Otiick Draws (Option) . . . Handlinq Untamiliar Weap Inherent Accuracy Table.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 t Firinq Stance., ........................... . 3 1 Fiill Stance.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 t Present Stance . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hip Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Weapon Modiliers ........................ . 3 1 Ranqr! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Tolescopic Sights (Option) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 2
Recoil
Hand Grenades
................................
.32
Land Mines .... Pressure Plate Claymore Mines "Bouncing Betty Booby Traps .......... Special Triggers.. .........
Recoil Rediiction (Option) Featiires Enhancing BCS . . . . . . . . . Firer Action- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Brace Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Rrst Weapon.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2
...
INTRO DUCTlO N
This is the first book of the rules as they specifically relate to an Aftermath! campaign. This book deals with the creation of characters, the Skills available to them, and rules for dealing with life after the Ruin. Detailed character creation and the equipment available are based on certain premises. These are that civilization continued to develop until sometime in the late twentieth or early twenty-first century. Things then began to fall apart or were ripped asunder. The time is now about twenty years after the collapse of organized society as we would come to know it. The nature of the collapse is left unspecified. This is the Gamesmasters province and should be specific to his campaign. If the Gamesmaster does not wish to accept the basic premise as detailed above, modifications should be made to the character generation system and the level of equipment available. The game as designed can be used to simulate a wide variety of ruined worlds and can be set in the recent past, the present, or the near, or even far, future.
CHARACTER GENERATION _ ,I
In this section of the rules we deal with the generation of characters intended for play in an Aftermath! campaign. The various steps in this process are presented in the order in which they should be performed. Each section is accompanied by a reproduction of the part of the Character Record Sheet on which the pertinent information is recorded. The specifics noted for characters in this generation process apply to a campaign set approximately twenty years after the final collapse of civilization. If the Gamesmaster wishes to set the campaign at another point, various things should be altered. These include initial Skills available, origins for the different age groups, initial equipment availability, the chance of a character being a mutant and possibly even the age groupings. If the Gamesmaster so desires, he is operating within his authority to specify that a beginning character is in a specific Age Group, has specific origins, and has access to a limited array of Skills and/or equipment. This is usually done when the Gamesmaster has a specific place of origin for the characters in his campaign or a player is replacing a lost character in the middle of an adventure. The player may determine the characters actual age by adding the results of 2D5 to the base age. This information is entered on the Character Record Sheet. The characters Age Group will affect much of the rest of the generation process. Each Age Group will receive certain initial skills and other benefits and/or detriments. Each Age Group is dealt with separately below.
Group 0-Character
receives an initial score in Post-Ruin Culture and 1 non-Firearm Combat Skill of the players choice. The character also receives 2D5 Attribute Increase Points. (These are dealt with later.) The character has a 2 in 6 chance of being Changed. The player must check on the Origins Table on page 2. character receives an initial score in PostRuin Culture, 1 non-Firearm Combat Skill, and the players choice of Literacy or Technology Use. The character receives 2D5 Attribute Increase Points. The character has a 1 in 6 chance of being Changed. The player must check on the Origins Table on page 2.
Group 1-The
AGE GROUP
Each player should roll 1D20 to determine his characters Age Group. If a player strongly desires to play a character in a given Age Group, the Gamesmaster may allow this without recourse to a random die roll. The results of the die roll are checked on the table below.
Group 2-The
character receives initial scores in Literacy, Technology Use, and 1 non-Firearm Combat Skill of the players choice. The character also receives a score in Culture but the player may specify whether the prime area is Pre- or Post-Ruin. The player must check the Development Point Table on page 2. Culture and the players choice of any 2 non-Firearm Combat Skills or 1 Firearm Skill. The character also receives doubled initial scores in Literacy and Technology Use. The player must check the Development Point Table on page 2. The character may suffer aging effects. (These will be dealt with later.)
Group 3-The character receives an initial score in Pre-Ruin

AGE GROUP TABLE D20 Age Group Base Age 1-5 0 13
6-10 11-14 15-17 18-19 20 1 2 3 4
5
22 31 40 49 58
I
Group 4-The
character receives doubled initial scores in Literacy, Technology Use, Pre-Ruin Culture, and the
players choice of 1 Firearm Combat Skill. The player must check the Development Point Table on page 2. The character will suffer aging effects.
DEVELOPMENT POINT TABLE(D10)
Group 5-The character receives initial scores as Age Group

4 plus an initial score in a Survival Skill. The player must check the Development Point Table on page 2. The character will suffer aging effects. All characters will receive an initial score in Brawling Combat Skill and i n 1 Survival Skill. Specific Skills received should be noted in the Skills section of the Character Record Sheet. Any Attribute Increase Points should be noted to one side of the Attribute section on the CRS.
Die Roll
i 1-3
No increase i n points.
Receive 2D3 Attribute Increase Points.
4-6
7-9 Receive 2D5 Development Points. 10-12 Receive 105 Development Points and 1D3 Attribute Increase Points. 13-15 Receive 2D5 Development Points and 2D3 Attribute Increase Points.
I I
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE AND TALENTS

ORIGINS FOR CHARACTERS IN GROUPS 0 AND 1 The specific source of training and knowledge available to
a character in his formative years will modify what Skills are allowed to him. To determine the characters origins roll 1D10, add the characterk Age Group to the result and consult the table below.
~~
ORIGINS TABLE (D10)

Die Roll 1-2 Wild upbringing: the character has primarily been o his own for most of his life. He has had no formal or rigorous training. The character may not begin with any Technical or High Tech Skills 3-4 Tribal upbrining; the character has been raised in a group reduced to a tribal level of society. The character may not begin with any High Tech Skills and Technical Skills have doubled cost for him.
The psychological profile of the character gives an initial value to each of his Talents. These initial values may be altered following the rules given in Book 1. For each Talent, the player should roll 1D10, consult the table below and enter the result in the Allocated column of the section for Talents on the Character Record Sheet. The player will then roll 2D6 and add the result to 15. This is the number of Talent Points which he may allocate among the characters Talents. Remember that no score may exceed 20. The adjusted scores for the Talents should be entered on the Character Record Sheet. Any changes after this point will be entered in the Current Column. If no change is made the Allocated value is the Current value.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE TABLE (D10) Die Roll Talent Initial Rating

1 2-3 4-6 7-8 9 10 -2
-1
0 1 2
3
I
I Talents
(15 + 206 =-points

l u
Charismatic Combative Communicative Esthetic Mechanical Natural Scientific
- --- -UWd
to allocate
CurrmI
--- --
---
---
INITIAL ATTRIBUTE VALUES

The beginning character in Aftermath! receives 75 points to allocate among his Attributes. These are distributed as the player desires among the six Attributes. No score may be less than 1 or more than 40. When the player has decided on the distribution of these points, they should beentered inthe Allocated column in the Attribute section of the Character Record Sheet.
DEVELOPMENT POINTS
Each character will have some Development Points. These can be used in two ways. They can be used as Skill Pointsto buy Skills or they can be used as Attribute Increase Points to buy increases to the characters Attribute scores. Each character receives a number of Development Points equal to his base age. These may be split as the player desires between Skill Points and Attribute Increase Points Characters in Age Groups 2 through 5 should roll 1D10, add their Age Group to the result and consult the Development Point Table below. Whensthedivision of the total Development Points is made, the total Attribute Increase Points and the total Skill Points should be noted in the margin of the Character Record Sheet .
SKILLS DETERMINATION
At this point the player should decide what Skills the character will possess. Ski1lsarebought using Skill points. The cost in Skill Points for each Skill is given along with the Skill and its initial score i n Appendix 2. A character with insufficient Skill Points to pay the cost of the Skill may not begin with that Skill. A Skill may be bought at twice the norma1costin order for the character to receive a doubled initial score in that Skill. This is the maximum initial score that a character may have. Some Skills have Prerequisite Slfills. The character must have all Prerequisite Skills with a iminimum score of 25 in each if he is to acquire theskill which has such prerequisites. A character who does not have the Prerequisite Skills or whose score i n the Prerequisite Skills is less than 25 is not allowed to begin play with the Skill in question. The values used for any calculations of an initial score in a Skill are taken from the characters Allocated Attribute scores and the Allocated Talent scores. The name of each Skill and thecharacters initial score in it should be entered on the Character Record Sheet in the ,y;on for
Off-hand Dexterity
Brawling Survival,
Skijlsc-ERo
Attribute Increase Points are the voluntary method of Attribute increase before the beginning of play. The total number of Attribute Increase Points is the number of D3s that the player may roll. The sum of these die rolls is the number of points that the player may distribute among the characters Attributes. These increases may be used to counteract the effects of age or mutation or toenhance such of those effects as the player considers beneficial. When these modifications have been made, the new Attribute scores are entered in the Permanent column of the Character Record Sheet. Any subsequent changes to the Attribute scores which are not specified as permanent changes will be entered in the Current column. If no such change has occurred, the Current score will be the Permanent score.
* - - - - A -
\-
r------TT--
---
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The player will roll 1DlOO for each of the following characteristics: Size, Bulk and Looks. The category for each is entered on the Character Record Sheet and the total of the recognition factors for each characteristic is entered as the Base Recognition Factor. The player may cross-index the characters Size and Bulk groupings on the Personal Encumbrance Chart to determine this value. It should also be entered on the Character Record Sheet. The necessary Table and Chart are found i n Book 1 on page 10.
b6mP sue l rC kr
Bulk
ALTERATIONS TO ATTRIBUTES
Attribute scores may be altered before play in any of three ways. These alterations can be due to aging effects, Changed status or Attribute Increase Points. The effects of aging are given in Book 1 on page 45. The character is assumed to undergo the effects of each breakpoint up to and including his current actual age. Changed status may or may not affect Attributes depending on the nature of the mutation. This information will be provided by the Gamesmaster. He has the rules concerning mutants in Book 3 and will inform the player of the nature of the characterk mutation and its effects on the character.
Adulb LDdu
Ihcog.Ficlw patolul EWC
BASIC CLOTHING
Each character will begin with some basic clothing. To determine what the character begins with, the player should roll 1D10, add the characters Age Group and consult the table below.
BASIC CLOTHING TABLE Die

1
Roll (D10)
Itern
Shorts Sandals Shirt Pants Sneakers Shirt Fatigue Pants Combat Boots Shirt Field Jacket
Coverage
10-12 17-20 4-9,21-22 10-18 19-20 4-9,21-28 10-18 17-20 4-9,21-28 4-1 1,21-28 1 29-30
Code
HC LH LC HC HC HC HC LL LC HC HC LL PC SY PC SP
Total ENC
.003
.016 .004 ,009
Armor Value/Location 2
2 1 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 2 3
2-5
.002
.014 .009 .016 .007 .016 .001
6-10
11-13
AS 6-10 PIUS
Hat Gloves
.008
.0135 .04 .024 .07
14-15
As 11-13 except Pants Boots Jacket plus Steel pot
3
5 3 9
INITIAL ARMOR
Each character receives a number of Barter Pointsequal to twice clis Base Age which the player may use tobuyarmor. Guideline Barter Values are on page 52 and in Appendix 3. All prices are base prices and these Barter Points may only be used for acquiring armor for the character. Any extra points are lost. Armor acquired in this fashion should be in the form of some real sort of armor. Each item and the pertinent information concerning it should be entered on the Character Record Sheet in the Armor section. The best ArmorValueon each Location should be entered on that Location on the Body Map provided on the Character Record Sheet The Total Encumbrance Worn may now be calculated. The Average Armor Value is calculated following the rules on page 17 of Book 1 and entered on the Character Record Sheet.
any subsequent Skills the die is 1D20. The first failure to receive a firearm prevents any further rolls. If this roll indicates a firearm and the Utility Number roll indicates nothing, the firearm is currently Disrepaired. Roll again for its Utility ignoring Utility Numbers less than 1. Any firearm will come with 3D6 rounds of the correct caliber. The Gamesmaster may have specific tables for the availability of various items of equipment which mayaltertheavailability of some of the equipment listed below. In any case, the Gamesmaster is the final arbiter of the exact nature of all initial equipment.
UTILITY NUMBER TABLE Die Utility Roll Number Explanation

1
2-4 5-7
8-9
10
Utility-0 Very low utility; for initial equipment it usually means that none is received. Utility-1 Low utility; poor initial equipment. Utility-2 Average utility; standard quality initial equipment. Utility-3 High utility; above-average quality initial equipment . Utility-4 Very high utility; high quality initial equipment; often indicates a high tech item.
HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT SKILLS

For most Hand-to-Hand Combat Skills the player may choose a weapon from the Weapons Listing in Appendix 4 that has the Utility Number generated (oralesserone) and is usable by that Skill. Exceptions are noted below. If the Skill allows a character to use two of the weapons, a Utility Number one higher than that called for by a weapon will allow the character to have a pair of the weapons. In any case a higher Utility Number than the weapon of choice will indicate that the weapon is a improved version. For an improved version, roll 1D6. On 1-3 the weapon has a WDM increase of .1 times the result of 1D3 and on 4-6 the weapon has a decreased ENC of .1 times the result of 1D3. If a player wishes to choose a weapon rated 1 Utility Number higher than rolled, he may but the weapon will be inferior. It will have the WDM decreased by .1 times the result of 1D3, the ENC value increased by .1 times the result of 1D3 and the Survival Value halved. The indication of a High Tech item (Utility Number4 where the highest available weapon Utility is a 3) will mean that the weapon is electrocharged. Such weapons require an E-5 battery. Each time they hit they will discharge one charge into the target. This occurs even if the armor is not penetrated by the weapon but is subject to the rules for electrical attack given in Book 3. An electrocharged weapon has an ENC value increase of .2plus the ENC of the battery. The player need not accept an electrocharged weapon. With Hand-to-Hand weapons there is a 50% chance that the weapon is a reproduction weapon if such is available for use by that Skill. Brawling: Brass Knuckles are only received with Utility 3. Two Weapon: Any weapon, subject to the strength rules, usable with one hand can be used by a character with this Skill. If the character has Single weapon Skill as well, the weapon for that Skill will be determined first and will be the characters primary weapon for Two WeaponsSkill. A second weapon may be chosen but its Utility Number will be reduced by 1. Unarmed Combat: This Skill usually does not use weapons but a Utility 4 roll will give the character a pair of karatands if such items are allowed by the Gamesmaster. They are made of Rigiplast and have an effective Armor Value of 7. See the Gamesmaster for more specifics on Rigiplast.
INIT1AL EQUIPMENT
All characters will receive certain basic equipment. This is listed on the reverse side of the Character Record Sheet. If a die roll is indicated the player should roll the appropriate die or dice and record the number on the CRS. This collection of initial gear is known as a survival kit. In addition to this gear, a charactei will receive a container in which to carry things. The player will roll on the Utility Number Table and may choose any container of the indicated Utilityfrom those listed in the container section of gear and equipment on page 54. Various Skills are noted as having the possibility of initial equipment. For any Skill so noted the player should roll1 D10 and note the number indicated on the Utility Number Table. This will indicate what i f anyequipment is received for that Skill. Later in this section such Skills and the appropriate starting equipment are listed. When checking for a Small Arms Skill, a special roll must be made before checking for the Utility Number. Forthe first Small Arms Skill that the character has, the player must roll less than or equal to the characters Age Group for him to have a firearm appropriate to that Skill. The die rolled in this case is 1D6. For the second such Skill, the die is 1D10. For
Weapon and Shield: If the character has Single Weapon or

Two Weapon his weapon will be gotten from those Skills. The Utility Number times the result of 2D10 will be the maximum Barter Point Value of the shield the character has. These points are only applicable to the shield and only 1 shield may be bought. Values and types of shields are given in Appendix 5.
character to begin play with a basic Magnatuner and the E-1 battery to power it.
Lockpicking:
U-1 Crude lockpicks. ENC equals .2. Efficiency factor equals .8. BCS modification equals -2. U-2 Standard lockpicks. ENC equals 2. Efficiency factor equals 1. U-3 Quality lockpicks. ENC equals .25. Efficiency factor equals 1.2. U-4 High-quality lockpicks. ENC equals 3. Efficiency factor equals 1.5. BCS modification equals 1.
MUSCLE POWERED MISSILE WEAPONS

For most of these Skills two Utility Number rolls must be made, one for the deliverysystem and one forthe projectiles.
First Aid:
U-0 1D10 Bandages. U-1 Medkit 1 with 2D5 bandages. U-2 Medkit 1 with 2D5 bandages and 205 units of medical supplies. U-3 Medkit 2 with supplies as U-2. U-4 As U-3 plus roll 1D10: 1-3 1D3 units of Panomycin 4-6 1D3 units of Polycellulac 3 7-9 Roll 1D6 for type but double quantity 10 2D3 of each drug
Archery Bow (Pound Pull) Arrows

None Totally improvised Shafts only improvised Standard construction Fiberglass shafts
u-0
u-1 u-2 u-3 u-4
None 2D2 x 2D3 x 3D2 x 4D3 x
10 10 10 10
The Pound Pull indicated is the maximum. The value may be reduced to whatever level desired. Acharacter who recieves a bow will also receive 3D6 arrows. The choice of heads for the arrows is at the players discretion. Avoluntary reduction of the Utility Number will allow thecharacter to have a fiberglass bow which has an ENC value of 75% of the normal value. A character also receives a quiver (ENC 1) which may be slung on his back or at his side. It will hold 20 arrows. Blowgun: Utility 1 or 2 indicates a short tube which will reduce ranges given in the Skill description by half. This tube has an ENC value of 5.Utility3 or4 gives a long tube with an ENC value of 1. A character who receives a blowgun will also receive 3D6 darts. u-0 Improvised darts u-1 Fire hardened darts U-2 & 3 Metal darts Metal darts and 2D10 units of anesthetic u-4 poison of Strength equal to 103. Bola: The Utility Number is the number of balls in the characters Bola. Crossbow: The Pound Pull is determined as for bows;the multiplier is 20 instead of 10 but no fiberglass models are available. The bolts and their number are determined in exactly the same way as arrows. The character also which holds bolts as a quiver receives a case (ENC .8) holds arrows. Sling: The character receives a sling. The Utility Number is the number of six-sided dice used to determine how many non-improvised sling pellets the character will start with. Each has an ENC value of ,001. Slingshot: The Elasticity of the weapon is equal to the Utility Number. A Utility of 0 has an Elasticity of .5. The number of sling bullets is determined in exactly the same way as for Slings. Throwing: The character may choose 1D6 weapons from the Weapons Listing in Appendix 2 which are eligible for use with Throwing Skill and have a Utility Number equal to or less than the Utility Number rolled. Superior and Inferior quality weapon rules apply as for Hand-to-Hand weaponry.
HIGH-TECHNOLOGY PHYSICAL SKILLS Safecracking: A Utility Number of 4 will allow a character

to start with a stethoscope. This will add 1 to his BCS. It has an ENC value of 5.
If the Gamesmaster is starting characters with a particular scenario, he may provide them with additional initial equipment. Characters are not allowed tollbarter off initial equipment in attempts to improve their lot. This must be done in the course of the campaign. The initial equipment that a character receives does not necessarily represent the best that the character has ever had in his life. It is intended to reflect the results of the most recent turns of fortune. The character with high scores in Firearm Combat Skills who begins withoutagun has run into a string of bad luck resulting in his losing whatever firearms he had. All gear received should be distributed, by the player, about the characters person.
NON-TECHNICAL PHYSICAL SKILLS Gambling: The character with a Utility Number of 1

through 3 starts with a pair of dice or a pack of playing cards. A Utility Number of 4 starts with both. Handicraft: The starting equipment is at the discretion of the Gamesmaster and will reflect the type of handicraft. Magnalock penetration: A Utility Number of 4 allows the
FINAL CALCULATIONS
Having determined the equipment received by the character, the player must make the final calculations of various numbers and enter them on the Character Record Sheet. The Encumbrance Total for the character is made from the ENC carried and the ENC worn. This is checked against the characters Encumbrance Capacity to see if he is Partially or Fully Encumbered. If he is, it will affect his Current score in the Deftness and Speed Attributes. Ability scores should be calculated according to the appropriate formulas. Remember that some of these may change if the characters Attribute scores change. The Basic Chance of Success for each of the characters Skills should be calculated now. Having these numbers precalculated will save time during actual play. After conferring with the Gamesmaster the player will be able to enter the characters base Recognition Factor on the Character Record Sheet.
Maximum value carried with status
mwcrlnkrcd partiallyE~
IIII~EK
NOTES ON CHARACTER GENERATION

All through the process the player should give thought to the character that he is creating. The values of the various numbers can be used to reflect the players conception of this character. Beyond the areas covered on the Character Record Sheet, the player should give thought to the characters mental processes, likes, dislikes, fears, goals and dreams. All these things would affect how the character will react in a situation. Knowing these things and having the character act according to them is the essence of roleplaying. The game rules provide a clear picture of the characters appearance and abilities. It is up to the player to provide the view of the characters nature. At this point the character is ready for play. The rest of this book presents rule sections concerning various aspects of the campaign world and the things in it.
SAMPLE CHARACTER
Jack Smith is creating a character for an Aftermath! campaign. He envisions a man who longs for the lost technology and strives to retain it whenever possible.
A result ot a 020 die roll is 11, indicating an Age Group of 2. This gives the character a base Age of 31. A die roll of 2D5 gives a result of 6, which when added to the Base Age gives an Actual Age of 37. Being of Age Group 2, the character will receive initial scores in the Skills of Literacy and Technology Use. Jack decides that Post-Ruin Culture is most appropriate t o the character, For his non-Small Arms Combat Skill hechooses Archery. He also will receive an initial score in Brawling Combat Skill and oneSurvival Skill. HechoosesSurvival in theurban Environment. The next step is to determine the characters Psychological Profile. Jack rolls for the Talents in order. Each D10 is rolled and the results are checked on the Psychological Profile Table. The results are entered on the CRS. Jack determines the number of points he has to allocate among the Talents. The roll of 2D6 yields a 7 for a total of 22 points. These are distributed among the Talents and the addition is done to the values as shown on the CRS reproduction. The 75 points are distributed among the Attributes. These are recorded in the Allocated column of the Attribute section. Jack is using 6 of his Development Points as Attribute Increase Points. The rest are used to purchase Skills. He buys the Skills listed on the CRS. All are at base cost since Jack has decided that the character is a jack-of-all-trades but not a masier of any and has not sought to double any of his initial scores. Having bought the Skills, he now determines his initial scores in them using the formulas presented with the Skills. Once the initial Skills are determined, Jack rolls 6D3. He had used 6 Development Points as Attibute Increase Points. Each one of these Points is worth 1D3 of Attribute Points. The result of the roll is 13. Jack adds 6 to Wit, 1 to Will, 4 to Deftness and 2 to Health. These modified scores and the unchanged scores for Strength and Speed are entered in the Permanent column. The character is too old to be Changed and too young to experience aging effects. Thus no further modifications are made to his Attributes. The characters Physical Characteristics are now determined by rolling 1D100 for Size, Bulk and Looks. The die rolls are 25.51 and 64, yielding results of Below Average, Average and Average, repectively. Cross-indexing Size and Bulk on the Personal Encumbrance Chart shows that the character has a base Personal Encumbrance of 3.9. The Strength modification to this is (8/10) x .1 or .08, a final for Personal Encumbrance of 3.98. The base clothing die roll is a 2 to which is added the characters Age Group of 2. This gives an initial clothing of shirt, pants and sneakers. The character has his base Age times 2 in Barter Points with which to buy armor. This gives him 31 x 2 or 62. Jack buys a helm of Plated Macroplast at a cost of 24 Barter Points. He buys a Synthiplast gorget for 5 Points andbody protection of Plasticloth for 33 Points. This totals to 62 Points exactly. In keeping with his conception of the character, Jack has bought only plastic armor and clothing although he could have gotten materials with a higher Armor Value i f he had purchased metallic or non-metallic armor. Jacks Skill choice gives him only 5 Skills which may start with initial equipment. For Brawling Skill the result of his Utility Number roll is a U-3 so he will start with Brass Knuckles. The number for his bow is U-2. The result of the called-for roll of 203 is a4. 4 x 10 yields a40-Pound Pull bow. The character will start with 3D6 arrows. The die roll is 10, so he puts the arrows in his quiver. The Utility Number roll for the arrows gives a U-3 which is standard construction arrows. Jack decides that 5 of the arrows will be Target Arrows and 5 will be Hunting Arrows.
To determine if he receives any firearms, Jack first rolls 1D6. The result is a 2, which is equal to his Age Group. This means he will receivea modern pistol, since Pistol. Modern is the first Small Arms Combat Skill listed. He now rolls 1D10 t o see if he receives a weapon for his Pistol, Primitive Combat Skill since that is the next listed. The result is a 4 which is greater than his Age Group. He will not receive a primitive pistol and may not roll 1D20 to see if he would receive a modern rifle for his other Small Arms Skill. The pistol is a .45 caliber AL Standard barrelled pistol. His 3D6 roll gives him 10 rounds of ammunition. Jack also makes the appropriate die rolls for the gear in his survival kit. Having selected a knapsack as his Utility 2 container, Jack has all the equipment that his characterwill start with. He totals this to get the Encumbrance total, which is the sum of that Worn and that Carried. His total Encumbrance Worn adds up to ,1055, which is rounded off to .11. The total Encumbrance Carried is as follows: In the knapsack is all of the suvival kit except the canteen. This totals .29 but since it is On in a properly worn container its effectivevalue is .15. or in the belt are the canteen and the pistol, which now holds 7 rounds of ammunition. This has an ENC value of .2 plus .4, or .6. The quiver with arrows hasavalueof (1/2+ (lox .05)/2) or .75 and the bow a value of .4. His three extra rounds are placed in a pocket where their ENC value is halved t o 0.15 and rounded to .02. The Brass Knuckles are also placed in a pocket for a halved encumbrance of .05. This all totals 2.02 ENC Carried. The total Encumbrance is thus 2.02 plus .11, or 2.13. This is well within the characters Encumbrance Capacity, so he will be Unencumbered. All ability values and BCS scores are calculated now. Jack informs the Gamesmaster that the character has no distinguishing marks and does not wear distinctive clothing. The characters base Recognition Factor receives no modification and is thus the sum of the factors noted for his Physical Characteristics. They were 1 plus 0 plus 0, or 1. Choosing the name of Hank Snowden for the character, Jack informs the Gamesmaster that his character is ready for play.
SKILLS
Characters will have the Skills chosen for them by their players. These will allow the characters to function in the game environment. Besides the basic functioning of Skills as explained in Book 1 some Skills can be used to perform tasks.
SKILL DESCRIPTION
The Skills presented in this section are a cross-section of skills available to a character in Aftermath! world. The Gamesmaster may add additional Skills or eliminate some that are presented here in order to tailor the game to hisown campaign. Players should always check on the availabilityof Skills with the Gamesmaster. Skills are presented as follows: The name of the Skill; the Positioning if a.Combat Skill; a letter code; the initial score for the Skill; and a number indicating the Format on the first line. I f the Skill is Format 2, the number will be followed by the names of the areas the Skill is broken down into. The second line will contain in parentheses any prerequisite Skills required by the Skill. Following this will be the description of the Skill. Once a player is generally familiar with what the Skills can do he can consult the Skills Listing in Appendix 2 when constructing a character. This listing does not contain descriptions but does contain the cost of a Skill in Skill Points.
TASKS
A Task is a job involving a Skill which can not be resolved by a simple die roll in Detailed Action Time. A given Task is rated for a Task Value (the number ofrask Points required to complete it) and a Task Period at the end of which a character accumulates Task Points. At the end of a Task Period, the length of which is determined by the Gamesmaster, a character will make a BCS roll for the Skill Involved. A successful roll will allow the character to roll the Effect Die for a specified Attribute, usually Deftness or Wit. A critical success (die roll of 1 when the BCS is greater than 1) raises the characters Attribute Group by 1 for that die roll. This die roll result is the base number of Task Points that the character will finish in that Task Period. Failure o n the BCS roll will mean that no progress is made during that Period towards finishing the Task. A critical failure (adie roll of 20) will result in thetotal of finished Task Points being reduced. The base reduction is determined in the same way as the base progress is determined. If a Skill requires tools, equipment or facilities, they will be rated for their Efficiency Factor. This Factor will be multiplied by .1 times the Effect Number (the difference uetween the die roll and the characters BCS). The modified Efficiency Factor is multiplied by the base Task Points finished. These are added to the total finished if the BCS roll was successful and subtracted i f the result was a critical failure. With some Skills, units of supplies are necessary to produce the finished product. For these the type of material required will be specified. Some Skills will result in a smaller number of units of finished product than of initial material. The method for calculating the percentage of original material turned into product will be given with the Skill Description. In these cases round fractions down. Occasionally one Skill is needed to determine what is to be done and another is used to do it. A BCS roll is made with the first Skill, with success meaning that the character knows what to do. Failure means he does not know what to do and critical failure means he thinks he knows what to do. In the latter case, performance of the task will proceed normally but the end product will be wrong. Such boondoggles waste time and materials and, in some cases, can be downright dangerous. For the most part the formulation of the difficulty of aTask is left to the Gamesmaster. He has the final say as to the number of Task Points required to finish the Task and the length of the Task Period. Some guidelines are given in the Skill descriptions where the products are not so variable as to be beyond space limitations. A Task with a short Period but a high number of Task Points may beas difficult and time consuming as one with a longer Period but a lower number of Task Points. The Gamesmaster may make a Task more difficult by imposing a negative modification to the BCS. This can be done to reflect the character dealing with an obscure or unusual or very difficult application of the Skill.
LETTER CODES FOR NOTES

A-This Skill has an Averaging function. T-This Skill always requires tools or some other equipment to be used in its primary form. S-This Skill sometimes requires tools or some other equipment in order to be used in its primary form. E-A character with this Skill may start with some initial equipment pertinent to the Skill.
COMBAT SKILLS
HAND TO HANDE
Brawlinb (Frontal)s STR + DFT + Combative 3 This is unskilled, knock-down and drag-out style fighting The fighter may strike with a hand and receive a secondary strike or he may strike with a foot and make only the one attack. Hand attacks receive -5 to the Hit Location roll and are considered Short length weapons. Foot attacks receive +5 to the Location roll, are considered Average length weapons, and add the Mass of the fighter to his Strength for determining the Effect Die to be rolled for a successful attack. The fighter has a Weapons Damage Multiplier of 1 plusthe Armor Value of the Location with which hestrikes divided by 30, rounded to the nearest. Damage done is 75%subdual (C type) except on Critical Hits when it is 50% subdual (B type). For details of the effects of blows on armor see Unarmed Com bat Skill. Brawling Skill covers the use of improvised weapons such as bottles, broken bottles, chairs, table legs, etc. The fighter uses an Average BCS in these cases to resolve his attack. When the ravening hordes are closing in and there is no better option, a fighter may utilize a rifle or pistol butt as an improvised weapons and attack with an Average BCS using Brawling Skill.
3 Fencing (Presented)T SPD + DFT + Combative This Skill is a refined form of Single Weapon Skill. Its difference from that Skill lies in the Positioning used and the Attributes involved. Fencing Skill operates as a normal HTH Combat Skill.
Flexible Weapon (Frontal)
DFT t STR t Combative 3 This Skill governs the use of flexible and jointed weapons. Some of these weapons are capable of a special form of attack called Entanglement. It must be stated which type of attack is being made before the attack is resolved. In all cases an Entanglement attack may also do some subdual damage. The user of the weapon makes his Effect Die roll in the usual fashion but the effects of the armor on the Location struck are affected by its Format. R format armor will stop all of the damage; SR type will reduce the damage by its normal Armor Value; and all other formats will reduce the damage by one-half their normal Values rounded nearest. Some of the effects of an Entanglement attack are dependent on the Location struck. The Effect Number of the successful attack is cross-indexed with the Location on the chart below to get the special result of the Entanglement attack. A Critical hit will add 10 to the Effect Number. Once a flexible weapon user has gotten an Entanglement effect, he may attempt to maintain his hold on the target. This requires a matching of Deftness Effect Group Die rolls. If the users is higher he maintains the hold, and, if the Targets is higher, the user must attempt to get a new grip for his next
Action or do something else. If a hold is maintained the target is limited to 1 meter moves for each Action even if he is performing none. That is, he may not move freely. The user will roll his BCS at the end of his Action. This BCS is his base BCS and will determine the Effect Number to be used forthe results of this Actions attack. A target may break a hold by attacking the weapon t o destroy it (treat the weapon as having the users Overall Defense Ability); making a Strength Ability Saving Throw with a free hand t o rip the weapon free; or incapacitating or killing the user.
Knife (Frontal) DFT + SPD + Combative 3 This Skills is also a specialized form of Single Weapon
Skill. It governs the specialized use of short, edged weapons which are held in one hand, such as knives, daggers, broken bottles, razors and short bayonets. Due to the training i n this Skill, there is no penalty when using the Off-hand to make an attack. This is not a TWO Weapon Skill, however, so a character attempting to fight with two knives is subject to the rules for two weapon combat.
ENTANGLEMENT EFFECT CHART Effect Number 0-1

2-3 4-6
Head & Neck LOC1-3

Distraction Multiple Distraction
Torso LOC4-12 No Effect

Distraction Multiple Distraction
Leg LOC13-20
Distraction Abort Action Dazed Knocked over Knocked over plus check for Fall results
ArmZ LOC21-30
Distraction Abort Action Dazed Stunned
AS
AS 2-3 PIUS Check for Daze AS 2-3 PIUS Dazed

Stunned
7-9
AS 4-6 PIUS Check for Daze AS 4-6 PIUS Dazed
t o & up
7-9 PIUS Check for Knocked Over
Distraction
The target receives 1 Distraction to all BCS for a Combat Turn. The target receives the users Deftness Group in Distractions for a Combat Turn. The target compares his Health Group Effect Die roll to the users Strength Group Effect Die roll. If it is higher there is no effect other than the Distractions. Otherwise he is Dazed as well. The effect is the same as the critical effect Daze.
Abort Action
Multiple Distractions Check for Daze
The target must abort any Action in progress that is not resolving on the Action Phase on which the Entanglement attack is resolved. If able under the normal rules for initiation of Actions, the target may reinitiate his Action on the next Action Phase. The target is knocked from his feet and is subject to the rules for falling. The targets lower half is in the hex he had been occupying and his upper half is in the one most directly away from the weapon user. As above plus the target is at least Dazed. The target and user compare Strength Group Effect Die rolls. If the users is higher the target is Knocked Over.
Knocked Over
Dazed Stunned
Knocked Over plus Check for Knocked Over
The effect functions as the critical effect Stun except that the target functions normally on the next Combat Turn.
In order to achieve an effect against one of these Locations the flexible weapon must at least be of Long length. When one of these Locations is hit by such a weapon, the target and the user should compare Deftness Group Effect Die rolls. If the users is higher he gets to make a second BCS roll subject to all the modifiers present for the first one. If the roll is successful he will also have scored an
Entanglement effect on an arm. A critical hit will get both arms.

21f one of these Locations is hit on a man in Stance with a missile weapon all benefits of Stance are lost. He is treated as if he were Engaged for purposes of getting off a shot and all fire is treated as Hip fire.
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Some of the weapons governed by this Skill allow the fighter to make a second attack without forfeiting his Weapons Defense Ability. If the fighter chooses to make a third sttack with such a weapon in one Attack Action, he will forfeit his WDA for the number of phases required to complete the Action. STR + DFT + Combative 3 This Skill governs the use of two-handed edged weapons such as longswords and greatswords. Non-edged weapons such as pipes and staves may also be used but suffer a modification to the BCS of (users point of aim minus 6). Such weapons will have a secondary strike only if they normally do and they are not Extra Long in length. This Skill allows a specialized secondary strike with some weapons. The fighter must declare that a secondary strike will be made. He will lose the benefit of his Weapons Defense Ability during that Action. If the first attack misses he may immediately roll fora second attack using an Average BCS. If the first attack hits, no secondary strike is made. This Skill allows a fighter to use a sword that is normally one-handed if the handgrip is long enough to get two hands on it. When using such a weapon with Longsword Skill he will increase the weapons WDM by his Strength Group divided by 10. DFT + STR + Combative 3 This Skill governs the use of the Nunchaku, a short flail, The user of Nunchaku Skill is trained to useeitherone or two weapons. Use of two weapons is subject to Strength Rating limitations. Each nunchaku is capable of a secondary strike. Use of the secondary strike when using a single nunchaku costs the character the loss of his Weapons Defense Ability for that Action. With two nunchaku in use, the Weapons Defense Ability is not lost unless both are used to make secondary strikes. Nunchaku may be used in the same fashion as Tonfa with regard to Unarmed Combat Skill Grapples and Counters. The WDM of a nunchaku in this use is 1.5. STR + DFT + Combative 3 This Skill governs the use of hafted weapons requiring two hands such as halberds, spears, rifle and bayonet combinations, etc. Such weapons are usually allowed a secondary strike known as a butt stroke. Secondary strikes of this type are not allowed to be made into Long Front or Long Side hexes. The butt stroke has a WDM of 1 and does C type damage. DFT + STR + Combative 3 This Skill governs the use of the Sai, a dagger-shaped, non-edged steel rod. This weapon is pointed at the tip and has two long tines curving down from the hilt along the blades. The Sai may be used to Strike doing C type damage with a WDM of 1.7. It may also be used to Thrust with a WDM of 1.2 doing Lethal damage. The user of the Sai Skill is trained to use one of two of the weapons and the BCS of the second Sai is subject to averaging with the characters Off-hand Dexterity score. When using one weapon a secondary attack is allowed only when making a Strike attack. Secondary attacks when using two Sai follow the rules for Two Weapon Skill. When utilizing a Defend Option a character with Sai Skill may either gain the increase in Overall Defense Ability or retain his normal value and gain a special ability. This ability allows the user to attempt to disarm an opponent attack him with a Hand-to-hand weapon. If the attack made by his opponent would have hit the Sai user i f hk had had no Overall
Longsword (Frontal)T
Defense Ability, the Sai user may exercise this ability. Each character will roll his Strength Group Effect Die. If the Sai users result is higher, the opponent is disarmed and the weapon will land 1D3 meters away in a random direction. If using the Option Clash of Weapons, whenever the circumstances arises that a clash is called for, the Sai user may attempt to disarm his opponent. Failure to disarm his will subject the Sai to chances of being broken.
Single Weapon (Frontal) STR
+ DFT + Combative 3 This Skill governs the use of one handed weapons in combat. Any weapon designated as one-handed may be used. The user usually has his off-hand empty.
Two Weapon (Frontal)T STR + DFT + Combative 3 The user of this Skill holds a one-handed weapon in each
of his hands. The weapons allowable due to weight and wieldiness are dependant on the characters Strength as detailed on page 5 in Book 1. With this Skill a second, not secondary, attack is allowed. The fighter will lose the benefit of his WDA during the Attack Action. The first attack is assumed to be made with the weapon in the favored hand. It receives a -1 to the BCS. The second attack is assumed to be made with the weapon in the off-hand. The BCS is averaged with thecharacters Off-hand Dexterity and receives a modification of -1 before any other modifiers are applied. When not using it to attack the fighter is assumed to be using the weapon in the off-hand for parrying.
Nunchaku (Frontal)T
Tonfa (Frontal)T
Polearm (Frontal)T
DFT + STR + Combative 3 This Skill governs the use of the Tonfa, a weapon resembling a billy club with a short handle, at a right angle to the shaft, at one end. The user of this Skill is trained in using one or two of the weapons. When using two Tonfa, the standard rules for Two Weapon Skill apply. As this is a specialized Skill, thecharacter may not useotherweapons in the manner of Two Weapon Skill unless he has that Skill. Besides making normal weapon attacks, the character with Tonfa Skill may use it in another fashion. The score in the Skill is averaged with the characters score in Unarmed Combat Skill. This allows the character to perform Unarmed Grapples as presented in Unarmed Combat Skill. When using one Tonfa in this fashion the characters WDM for the Grapple is increased by 1 . This technique uses one Tonfa and afree hand. This averaged BCS also allows the character to attempt Counters in defending against attacks using Unarmed Combat Skill.
Unarmed Combat (Characters option)
Sai (Frontal)T
3 DFT + SPD + Combative This Skill represents a no-holds-barred conglomeration of modern martial arts techniques. There are three different techniques available to the character using this Skill: Striking, Throwing and Grappling. Both of the characters hands must be free to use the latter two techniques. When fighting an opponent who is using Unarmed Combat Skill or Brawling Skill, a character does not receive the Situational Modifier penalties for attacking to a Side or Rear hex or those for prone or kneeling position. STRIKING TECHNIQUES These attacks are made with the hands or feet. They normally do C type damage but, on a Critical Hit, they will do B type. HANDBLOWS: One handblow may be made with each Hand in an Action. The second blow is averaged with the Off-hand Dexterity score and causes the character to lose his Weapon Defense Ability for that Action, When only one hand is used for striking, the character is assumed to be parrying with his other forearm, or hand. Handblows are treated as Short length weapons. They have a WDM of 1 + (AV on the hand/20) or 1 +
10
(Aim score in Unarmed Combat/lO), whichever is greater. A handblow receives +5to the Hit Location roll. KICKS: Normally one kick per Action is made but the character may elect t o make a second attack in the same fashion as is done with Longsword Skill. Even with a single kick the characters Weapon Defense Ability is halved and rounded to the nearest. Kicks are dealt with as Average length weapons and their WDM is calculated as for handblows. For purposes of determining the Damage Potential a character using a kick will have his effective Strength increased by 1 Group. I f a kick is parried (a miss falling into the range of the targets Weapon Defense Ability), the attacker must make a Speed Ability Saving Throw or fall down. Kicks receive a -5 t o the Hit Location roll. BLOWS AGAINST ARMOR: Rigid armor halves the Damage Potential of handblows and kicks and makes all damage received subdual only. Other armors act normally. If the Armor Value of the Location struck exceeds the Armor Value on the attacking characters hand or foot, the attacker will take the difference between them in subdual damage. A character with Unarmed Combat Skill has a minimum AV of 1 + his Aim score in the Skill for the purpose of comparing these Armor Values only. It does not act as armor against incoming attacks. LEAPING KICKS: This is a specific tactic. It must be declared when the Action is initiated. The charactw may execute any Jumping Action available to him at that time. He will resolve a single kick at the end of the Jump Action. The character has a Combat Dodge Ability of 1 greater than his normal value and no Weapons Defense Ability. Against missile fire he has twice his normal CDA. He will resolve the kick using an average BCS in Unarmed Combat Skill and will receive a negative modifier of -1 for ever 2 meters or fraction thereof traveled in the Jump. If thetarget moves before the Jump would be resolved, it will be resolved in the standard fashion of missile attacks whose target disappears before resolution. A successful attack gives the character a +2 (1 for Jumping and 1 for kicking) to his effective Strength Group for determing his Damage Potential. If the leaping kick misses the character must make a Speed Critical Saving Throw to avoid falling. If the kick is parried or a Critical Miss occurs the character will definitely fall. THROWING TECHNIQUES A character may attempt to throw an opponent in his own hex or any of the adjacent hexes. He receives a +1to his BCS when the opponent is in the same hex. Only one throw attack may be made in an Action. A Hit Location of the head, neck, torso or arms, (LOC 1-12 and 21-30) indicates a full throw where the opponent is lifted bodily and thrown to the ground. Normally he will land 180 degrees away from the hex which he just vacated. His upper half will be in the hex nearest the thrower. The thrower may change this hex by 60 degrees per point of Aim. The thrower has the option of maintaining his facing or turning t o face the hex into which the opponent was thrown. The thrower also has the option of keeping or releasing his grip. If he keeps it, a Deftness Ability Saving Throw will allow him to make an immediate free attack using Grappling Technique. If he releases his grip, a Strength Ability Saving Throw will allow him to hurl his opponent 1 meter through the air before he lands. I f a thrown character is made to occupy a hex which already has a character in it, they are treated as i f the thrown Character was attempting a Deliberate Knockdown of the other character except that the throwers Strength is the one used to make the Effect Die roll. See Book 1, page 31. A Hit Location to the legs (LOC 13-20) indicates a foot
Facing of Thrower and position of victim.
sweep resulting in afall fortheopponent. Hefallsawayfrom the attacker. The thrower may attempt a Grappling Technique free attack with a Deftness Ability Saving Throw. Treat as a thrown character if the hex into which he falls is occupied. The full result of an effective throw does not occur simply with a successful BCS roll. The Effect Number must be determined and compared with the table below. Note that an Effect Number of at least 4 is required for the opponent to be actually thrown. A Critical Hit will add 10 to the Effect Number. Treat the plus with Critical Hits as the WDM for any subdual damage incurred by the thrown character. Critical Effects of Sever are treated as broken bones. BREAKFALLS: A thrown character who has Unarmed Combat Skill may attempt to use that skill to lessen the effects of a throw. The character will make a BCS roll using an average BCS. If successful he will reduce the throwers Effect Number by the Effect Number that he has just generated. If this reduces the throwers Effect Number below 0 then the character scheduled to be thrown will receive no effects from the attackers actions.
UNARMED COMBAT THROW TABLE

Effect Number
0-1
2-3 4-6
7-9
lG+
Outcome of Throw The throw is incomplete. Target must abort any Action in progress that does not resolve that Action Phase. If able under the normal rules for initiation of Actions, he may reinitiate the Action on the next Phase. Target is treated as Dazed (see Book 1, page 30) for a full Combat Turn. He remains on his feet. Target is actually thrown. He will be proneon the next Action Phase. He is also subject to the results of an Effect Number of 0 or 1 and must make the usual Saving Throw to avoid theeffects of a fall (see Book 1, page 32). As 4-6 above and the thrown character will take subdual damage equal to the throwers Strength Group Effect Die roll. Armor will not reduce this damage but each level of Blast Buffering will eliminate 5 points of it. As 7-9 above plus the victim must make an immediate Health Ability Saving Throw or succumb to System Shock. Blast Buffering will add twice its level to the number needed.
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GRAPPLING TECHNIQUES These techniques represent cunning grips on limbs, chokes designed to render an opponent unconscious or simple pinning holds. They are intended to disable or subdue an opponent. Normally they may only be used against a prone enemy or one in the same hex. Against a prone oponent the character may perform a Change Position Action as part of an Unarmed Combat Grappling Attack Action. The attack is resolved at the end of the Action. If the character has succeded with a Deftness AST following a successful throw, he is assumed to have done this as his free attack. If the character makes his Unarmed Combat BCS roll when using Grappling Technique, the hold is in effect and will remain so without necessity for further BCS rolls until the character releases the hold or his opponent breaks it. Damage is resolved at the end of the Action during which he maintains that grip. Damage done by Grappling Techniques is 50% subdual and 50% psuedo-damage which is only accumulated to determine when a Grapple is complete. The Hit Location indicates the type of technique being applied. A Hit Location to a limb (LOC 13-30) indicates a Limblock. One to the torso (LOC 10-12) indicates a Pin and one to the head or neck (LOC 1-3) indicates a Choke. LIMBLOCKS: Limblocks do damage with a WDM equalto 1 + the characters total score in the Skill divided by 20 and rounded to the nearest tenth. The victim is unable to move except at the grapplers whim. If the Limblock is on an arm, the grappler may force the victim to move at a maximum rate of a walk. If the Limblock is on a leg the victim will be held motionless. This mastery is achieved when the total damage done by the Limblock exeeds the victimsstrength. Thevictim ofasuccessful Armlock must release anything held in that hand. If he wishes the grappler may attempt to disable the limb when voluntarily releasing a Limblock. He rolls a Strength Saving Throw. I f the result is in his Critical Saving Throw range, the limb is broken. I f it is in his Ability Saving Throw range, the limb will take critical damage. I f the throw is in neither range the limb receives damage which will disable it but the damage will heal as if it were subdual damage. A critical failure means that the victim receives no damage from the attempt at all. The damage done by such a technique is determined by the grapplers Strength Group Effect Die roll. Such a release requires an Action to perform. PINS. A Pin result against a non-prone opponent is treated as a miss! A successful Pin means that the opponent is held motionless on the ground by the grappler. To be successful the accumulated damage must exceed the victims Strength. Once successful the accumulated damage must exceed the victims Strength. Once successful, the grappler may only continue t o hold his victim motionless or try toshift his grip. Shifting grip requires a new BCS roll. The grappler will receive an extra point of Aim even if he normally has none. If the new BCS roll fails, the Pin is lost and the opponent is free. Unless he has Unarmed Combat Skill (when he will add hisWDA) thevictim will only have his Combat Dodge Ability to oppose the BCS of an attempt by a grappler to shift his grip. CHOKES:Chokes are treated as Pins with the following exceptions. The accumulated damage is measured against the victims Health. When his Health is exceeded he will be unconscious as if he had succumbed to System Shock. If the Choke is maintained past this point, all damage done will be subdual. For each successive Action of Choking the grappler will now increase his effective Strength group by 1 for determining damage. He will eventually kill the victim by subduing him to death (see Book 1, page 36).
Rigid armor will prevent a Choke from being successful and Semi-Rigid armor will subtract its Armor Value from damage done. Other armor Formats have no effect on a Choke. DEFENDING AGAINST GRAPPLING TECHNIQUES Once the opponent has established a Grappling hold, a character may only attempt to get free. He may not use a Grappled limb. If the hold is a Pin or a Choke, he is treated as if he were onestep moreencumbered. If this makes him more than Fully Encumbered he will lose an additional 25% from his Deftness and Speed and his BCS roll will have a modifier of -8 to the score needed for success. The character has the following options: Assuming the correct limbs are free, he may make an attack with any availableHand-to-hand Combat Skill at a penalty to the BCS of 50% or -5 whichever is greater. For Effect Die determination his Strength Group will be reduced by 1 in addition to any modifications due to weapon length. He may attempt to make a successful average BCS with his Brawling Skill. This will break the hold but will cause no damage to the grappler. He may attempt to make a successful Unarmed Combat Skill BCS roll. This will break the hold but cause no damage. If the result is a Critical Hit, he is allowed an immediate free attack with that Skill. Situational modifiers due to positioning do not apply in these attempts and the grappler has his full Overall Defense Ability.
OPTION COUNTERS IN UNARMED COMBAT When a character using Unarmed Combat Skill is attacked and the opponents attack fails in the range of the characters Weapon Defense Ability, the character is allowed a free attack against the attacker. He may use any Technique but the type must be declared before the BCS is rolled. The free attack is subject to the normal modifiers. If the character using Unarmed Combat Skill is utilizing a Defend Action, any attack which misses will allow the character to make a free attack on his opponent.
Weapon and Shield (Refused)? STR + DFT + Combatative 3

The user of this Skill holds a one-handed weapon in his favored hand and has a shield on his off-hand arm. The character is treated as if he were using two weapons in terms of weapons and shields allowable due to weight and wieldiness. Use twice the Shields ENC value as a weapons Strength Rating for this purpose. A secondary attack is allowed using theshield. It issubject to the usual rules for such attacks. The WDM for a shield used i n this way is theshield Factor divided by 10. Damage is C type. Large shields add to a characters Overall Defense Ability in Hand-to-Hand combat and all shields add to the Overall Defense Ability against any missile attacks coming in through the characters Front hexes. A shield is struck by an attack when the attack is successful and the Hit Location is covered by the shield or when the die roll for an unsuccessful attack is in the range protected by the shield. The range protected by the shield is equal to any additions the shield gives to the characters overall Defense Ability and, in the case of a Hand-to-Hand attack, the characters Weapon Defense Ability. A missile attack that falls into the range protected by the shield still has a 50% chance of attacking the character It it does the missile weapon will still be reduced by the Minimum Barrier Effect of the shield. Roll for Hit Location normally. A shield struck in a successful attack must be penetrated before any damage can be applied to penetrating the armor
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of the target. Bullets will have their BDG reduced by the minimum Barrier Effect of the shield. This yields the effective
BDG used t o determine the die t o be rolled for the Damage Potential. Arrows and crossbow bolts will have their effective Strength Group reduced by 1 for every 10 points or portion thereof of Barrier Effect. Other muscle powered missile weapons and Hand-to-Hand weapons have their normal Damage Potential determined. From this is subtracted the minimum Barrier Effect of the shield. T h e result is the effective Damage Potential which may then beapplied to the target. Any time that the normal Damage Potential of a successful attack exceeds the overall Barrier Effect of the shield that shield is reduced to the next lower class. A shield struck by an unsuccessful attack will be attacked. Bullets will reduce the shield by one class if their effective BDG upon striking the shield exceeds the overall Barrier Effect of the shield by 3 times its value. Arrows and crossbow bolts will not reduce the shield but will stick in theshield and add their ENC value to the shield's value. Other muscle powered missile weapons will attack the shield as Hand-toHand weapons do and will stick in the shield to add their ENC value if the shield user does not make a Deftness Ability Saving Throw to dislodge them. Hand-to-Hand weapons will reduce the shield class by one if damage done is twice the minimum Barrier Effect of the Shield. It requires 1 Action to remove a shield and 2 Actions to put on, sling or unsling a shield. Consider Kelly and his old police shjeld. The shield is Class 4 and is made of one-half inch of heavy plastic. The upper third is clear. The Barrier Value of the plastic is 20. Minimum Barrier Effect is 112 times 20 or 10. Overall Barrier Effect is the Class (4) divided by 2 times the Minimum Barrier Effect (10) for a value of 20. The ENC Value is the Overall Barrier Effect (20) times the shield's factor (15 for Class 4 ) times the thickness ( 3 inch) times a constant (.005 for plastics) yielding a value of .75 ENC. Kelly's Skill score in Weapon and Shield is 80 giving him a Weapon Defense Ability of 4. When he
is attacked in Hand-to-Hand combat, he will add this Weapon Defense Ability to his Combat Dodge Ability to get his Overall Defense Ability. Since he is using a Class 4 shield he will add an additional 1 to this for a total Overall Defense Ability of 7. (His Combat Dodge Ability is 2). An opponent's attack could miss him totally, strike him cleanly, strike the shield, or hit him o n a portion of his arm covered by the shield. If his opponent's Basic Chance of Success were 15 it would be determined like this: Die roll less than or equal to 15 minus 7 (that is BCS minus ODA) means Kelly has been successfully struck. Hit Location is rolled for normally. If the Hit Location die roll indicates that the attack is to be resolved against one of the Locations stated as being covered by the shield (see chart on this page) the shield itself must be penetrated as well as any armor o n that Location before damage is assessed against Kelly. Die roll between or including 11 and 15 (that is the range covered by Kelly's WDA and any pluses to ODA given by theshie1d)means that theshield itself has been struck. Damage against it is assessed as indicated above. Any other die roll indicates a clean miss. Note that results of 9 or 10 are misses due to Kelly's CDA. Missile attacks against a character carrying a shield are resolved in a similar fashion. Of course the character may not apply his Weapon Defense Ability against a missile attack but his Combat Dodge Ability may be enhanced by the type of movement in which he is engaged. Any attack die roll falling in the range "protected" by the shield's plus to the Overall Defense Ability is considered to attack the shield. Thus, in Kelly's case, against an opponent with a BCS of 15, the shield adds 4 to his ODA. Any attack die roll from 12 to 75 would attack the shield.
Basic Statistics on Shields:

Factor Locations Covered 0 2 30 1 0 5 28,30 2 10 26,28,30 0 3 3 1 15 24,26,28,30 4 4 2 25 22,24,26,28,30 5 5 Minimum Barrier Effect = (Barrier value of material x thickness) Overall Barrier Effect = (ClassM, u p ) x (minimum Barrier Effect) ENC value = (overall Barrier Effect x Factor x thickness x K) K = .005 for plastics; .02for metals; and .01 for other materials.
1 2
Class
+ t o O D A vs. missiles
to ODA In
Description Very Small Small Medium Large Very Large
HTH Combat
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MUSCLE POWERED MISSILE WEAPONSE*T Archery (Refused) DFT + WT + Combative
3 This Skill governs the use of a bow of any sort. The Basic Chance of Success is modified by the strength of the bow, the range of the target, the type of arrow being fired, and the situation. Bows have no Weapon Damage Multiplier. This is dependant on the type of arrow fired. The Strength Group used to determine the Effect Die rolled is also range dependent. The percentage chance of an arrow hit achieving a Missile Special Effect is equal to the Damage Potential. Bows are rated by their Pound Pull. This will determine their Range Factor, Durability and Encumbrance value. Range Factor (RF) = Pound Pull/lO, rounded nearest. Durability (or DUR) = Range Factor/2, rounded nearest. Encumbrance (or ENC) = Range Factor/lO, rounded nearest tenth. Thus, a bow with an 80 Pound Pull has a Range Factor of 8, a Durability of 4 and an Encumbrance of .8. How far a bow will throw an arrow, how clean the shot will be and how long the bow takes t o draw will be dependent on the character attempting to use the bow.
Strength of Bow versus User Strength: Bow Range Factor greater than or equal to
4x 3x 2x 1x STR STR STR STR
Grp Grp Grp Grp
results in
BCS mod. Actions to Reload unusuable by character -4 2 -2 1 +O 0
Thus an 80 Pound Pull bow is unusable by a character with aStrength Groupof 1 or2. Acharacterwithastrength Group of 3 or 4 may use the bow with a BCS modification of -2 and one Action must be spent in loading and drawing the bow before it may be fired. A character with a Strength Group O f 5 would fire the bow with no modifications due to the strength of the bow and could fire an arrow o n each of his Actions. An arrow may be held nocked and ready to fire for a number of Actions equal to the users Strength Group.
Range Modifications for Bows Category Distance in meters

Point Blank Effective Long Maximum Extreme
5 RF x STR Grp 5 x RF x STR Grp 10 x RF x STR Grp 20 x RF x STR Grp
BCS mod.
+1
Eff STR Grp for Effect Die

+1*
+O
-1 -2 -5
+o
-1 -2 -3 Modification to Weapon Damage Multiplier of .1 x STR Grp. OPTION
Should a characters Effective Range be less than 5 meters, 5 meters becomes the upper limit on his Effective Range and the value calculated for his Effective Range becomes his Point Blank Range.
Wind Effects to archery

Head Wind Tail Wind Crosswind -1 to STR Grp for range calculations +1 to STR Grp for range calculations
Modifications due to arrows In use:
BCS mod.
WDM
1.8 1.5 2 2.5 l/i normal
Target arrow +O +1 Armor piercing arrow Hunting arrow -1 -2 Barbed arrow as appropriate Improvised head Improvised shaft -1 Improvised fletching -2 Aluminum or Fiberglass shaft +1 Mopdifications due to situation
Situation
Archers ring No bracer Interfering clothing Sights in use
BCS mod.
+1 -1 -2 +1
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HLH + WT + Combative 3 A blowgun is a delivery system for darts carrying some kind of drug. Dart damage is calculated for penetration purposes only. Darts will never damage shields. The Effect Die for determing the penetration is based on the users Health Group. The die result is multiplied by the WDM of the dart. If the result is greater than or equal to the Armor Value on the Location hit, the substance of the dart will be introduced to the targets system.
Blowgun (Frontal)
Range Modifications Distance Category in meters
BCS Mod.
Eff. HLH Grp for Effect Die
Point Blank 2 meters +1 +1 Effective HLH CST +O +o Long HLH AST -1 -1 Maximum HLH -3 -2 If a characters Effective range is less than 2 meters, 2 meters becomes his effective range and the calculated value becomes his Point Blank range.
Modifications due to darts In use: BCSMod.

improvised fire hardened wood metal -2 -1
WDM
0.8 1.o 1.3
+o
Modifications due to wind Light -1

Moderate Strong Gusty -3 -6 doubled strength value of wind
DFT + WT + Combative 3 This weapon system requires 1 Action to prepare and a minimum of 1 Action to windup to toss. For each additional Action spent in windup the range groupings will be modified by a multiplier of .5 per Action to a maximum of 3. Thus, after 4 additional Actions of windup the upper limits of all range groupings will be multiplied by 2. Use of this weapon requires a clear area around the character. The minimum radius of clear space is 1 meter. Each additional Action of windup will increase this radius by .5 meters. Any obstruction that occurs during the windup will abort the attack with the bola. The object or character that aborted the attack will receive a Strike attack from the bola. A character may maintain a bola in windup for a number of Combat Turns equal to his Strength. A character maintaining a windup may only move 1 meter per Action. This weapon has two forms of attack and the form in use must be specified before the attack is resolved. Strike is an attack to damage. The Gamesmaster, using a flat curve, will determine how many of the balls in the bola strike. Each ball has a WDM of 1.5C and an ENC value of .2. The Effect die is rolled separately for each ball that strikes. Capture is an attack which does not directly damage. Again the Gamesmaster determines how many of the balls actually affect the target. The total number striking is multiplied by .5 to get the WDM to be multiplied by the Effect Die roll. This will yield an Effect Number for use with the Entaglement Attack rules given with Flexible Weapon Skill. The Damage Potential is the percentage chance of a missile special effect occurring. A Flesh Wound result for a Capture attack requires the target to make a Speed Ability Saving Throw to avoid a fall.
Bola (Frontal)
DFT + WT + Combative 3 This skill governs the use of all crossbow type weapons. The Basic Chance of Success is modified by the range to the target, the type of bolt being fired, and the situation. The Weapon Damage Multiplier is, like bows, dependent on thc type of bolt being fired. Unlike bows, the range and damage done is based on the weapon rather than thecharacter using it. Crossbows have a recoil effect which may affect the users chance of hitting his target. The percentage chance of a bolt hit achieving a Missile Special Effect is equal t o the Damage Potential. Crossbows are rated by their Pound Pull as are bows. The Pound Pu11/2, nearest is used for crossbows as the users Strength is used with bows, to determine ranges and the effective Strength Group for Effect Die determination. Thus, a crossbow with a Pound Pull of 120would haveaStrength of 60 and a Strength Group of 7 with an Effect Die of 2010 +2. This Strength Group would be used to make the range calculations and would receive the modifications due to range for determining the Effect Die to be roiled. The Range Factor, Durability and Encumbrance valuesfor a crossbow arecalculated in afashion similarto that done for bows. Range Factor = Pound Pull/lO, rounded nearest tenth Durability = Range Factor/3, nearest Encumbrance = Range Factor/5, nearest tenth Thus, a crossbow with a Pound Pull of 120 has a Range Factor of 12, a Durability of 4, and an Encumbrance of 2.4. The recoil effect of a crossbow will give the usera negative modification to his BCS. If the recoil effect calculation yields a negative number there will be no effect to the users BCS. It does not give a positive modification. Recoil Effect = (RF/2, nearest) Strength Group For determination of effects to BCS and for the Weapon Damage Multiplier to use, bolts function in all ways as do arrows. A crossbows Point Blank range is 10 meters, not 5 as with a bow. Unlike a blow, a crossbow must be cocked. Once cocked, it may be carried loaded and ready to fire. A crossbow requires a number of Strength Points equal to its Pound Pull in order to be cocked. For each Action spent cocking the crossbow, a character may apply his Strength in Strength Points toward cocking the crossbow. If the crossbows Pound Pull is greater than or equal to 4 times the users Strength, the user will be unable to cock the crossbow without the aid of a mechanical device. If the mechanical aid is incorporated into the crossbow, it will take one additional Action before the weapon is reloaded. If the aid is separate, two additional Actions will be required. If the multiplier for a separate mechanical aid does not put the characters Strength into the range where he would be allowed to cock the weapon if that were his natural Strength, that crossbow may not be cocked and a more powerful aid or a stronger character is required. Mechanical aids: separate: Belt hook x 1.5 Goats foot x2 x 1.8 built in: Cranechin x2 Windlass
Crossbow (Frontal)
Range Modifications Category
Eff. STR Grp
BCS Mod.
for Effect Die
Point Blank STR CST +O +O Effective STR AST -1 +O Long STR -2 -1 Maximum 2 x STR -4 -2 If the characters calculated range lies within the radius of his windup, he may not attack at that range grouping.
Crossbows have an inherent BCS Modification of +3. As with all inherent BCS modifications, once the characters BCS in the governing Skill exceeds the sum of his Combative Talent and the Inherent Modifications the modification is no longer used. A character in Stance with a crossbow may sight in.
Sling (Frontal) DFT + WT + Combative 3 The sling is a simple sling of David. The rules governing
its range and the increase of range by longer windup are the
15
same as for Bola Skill. The WDM that the sling imparts t o its bullet will depend on the number of turns spent in windup. A character has an effective upper limit on the numberof turns spent in windup of his Strength Group. This is for purposes of determining the WDM only. It does not apply to range. Actions in windup 1 WDM C type damage: .5 2 1 3 1.5
4-5 2
Throwing Range Modifications STR DFT Distance Grp. throw required Category in meters BCS mod. mod. if not using Skill
Point Blank 2 Effective STR CST Long STRAST Extreme STR Maximum 2 x STR ---penalty shift value
+1 +1
+O
-1
-2 -4 -8 -1 6 will not hit
+O
-1 -2
6-7 2.5
+o
Improvised bullets such as pebbles will give a -2 modification to the Basic Chance of Success. The percentage chance of a missile special effect is equal to the Damage Potential. DFT + WT + Combative 3 Slingshots are rated for Elasticity. The effective Elasticity of a slingshot is the actual elasticity or the user's Strength Group, whichever is lower. The upper limit on the range groupings is multiplied by the effective Elasticity.
-3
-4
2 x AST AST CST CSTM, down 1 1 followed by CST 1 followed by 1 will not hit
Slingshot (Frontal)
Range Modifications Distance Eff. STR Grp. in meters BCS Mod. for Effect Die Point Blank 3 +1 +1
Effective 5 +O +O Long 10 -1 +O Extreme 15 -2 -1 Maximum 20 -4 -2 The WDM of the slingshot is equal to the effective Elasticity divided by 2. The damage is C type. BCS modifications for ammunition are the same as for slings. The percentage chance of a missile spec'ial effect is equal to the Damage Potential.
Throwing (Frontal)
DFT + WT + Combative 3 This Skill represents a trained ability to throw weapons. It is required for the successful throwing of such things as knives, small axes and spears but such things as rocks, hand grenades, and chairs may be thrown without recourse to this Skill. In thelattercase,acharacterwith theskill ismorelikely to hit his target than one without it. To be thrown without penalty, the Strength Rating of the weapon must be less than the Strength Group of the character. For each point over this number there is one penalty shift on the range table. The BCS modification, the Strength Group modification and the throw required for Deftness are shifted to the next most difficult category for each penalty shift. Distances do not alter. Thus, a character attempting to throw a weapon with a Strength Rating of 5 while he has a Strength group of 3 will receive a penaltyshift of two. If the target were 6 meters away (within his normal Long range) he would have the BCS and Strength Group modifications as if it were two range steps further away (Maximum range).
When throwing heavy, non-aerodynamic objects reduce all ranges by 75%. The percentage chance of a missile special effect with a thrown, non-explosive weapon is equal to the Damage Potential. A character may utilize his throwing Skill BCS of his Deftness in making a throw, whichever will give him the best chance of success. When a character fails to hit his target with a throw, the object thrown is subject to landing somewhere else. This is particularly pertinent when the character is tossing hand grenades. An object which misses will fall 2D3 meters from the target in a direction randomly determined by 1D6. The hex in the target's Zone of Influence that is intersected by the line drawn between the center of the thrower's hex and the center of the target's hex is considered to be 1 and the numbering proceeds clockwise from there. For simplicity, treat the object as if it were travelling from the target's hex to determine the destination hex. If the object encounters an obstacle before it has covered the required distancefrom the result of a throw of 2D3 (a Critical miss will double this distance), it will bounce according to the laws of physics. That is, its angle of reflection will be equal to its angle of incidence. This is a guideline for handling misses. It should not be used if the results yield patent absurdities. The Gamesmaster is advised to follow the spirit and intention of the rule rather than being slave to its letter.
Determination of Direction
Example assumes a missed BCS roll by the attacker (A is using Throwing Skill to hit target T). The margin of miss is 3 meters (from 2D3). The path to determine where the weapon falls is indicated by the solid line. A critical miss, doubling the margin of miss, is indicated by the dashed line.
16
SMALL ARMS
The details of the use of firearms are given i n the section on guns on page 24. It is noted here that a character possessing the skill t o fire a given format of gun such as a pistol may fire any loaded and ready pistol. The Skills are separated into Modern and Primitive to deal with the preparation before firing, drill while firing and basic maintenance after firing. The Skill can also be used as a measure of the characters ability to recognize specific weapons covered by the Skill. Pistol, Modem (standard: Presented) DFT + WT + Combative 3 Pistol, Primitive same as Pistol, Modern Rifle, Modern (Refused) DFT + WT + Combative 3 Rifle, Primitive same as Rifle, Modern
Boating STR + WT + Natural 1 This Skill governs the running of small sail or oar powered vessels. It also serves to allow a character to function as a crew member on a large vessel of the type covered. Climbing STR + DFT + Natural 1 This Skill governs the climbing of sheer surfaces or manmade edifices. The rate of climb is the result of a Deftness Group Effect Die roll multiplied by a factor representing the difficulty of the surface. This factor is at the discretion of the Gamesmaster. A Critical Failure on the Basic Chance of Success roll indicates a fall. A normal miss requires another BCS roll with another miss indicating a fall. A successful roll indicates no progress. When climbing natural formations Climbing Skill is also usef u I. Various pieces of equipment can be useful in aiding the BCS roll, increasing the distance climbed or preventing falls. See also Climbinq in Detailed Action Time on page 25 of Book 1. Fishing DFT + WT + Natural 2(Trap/Hook) This Skill allows tne cnaracter to acquire food from the water. The character must be using some form of equipment and will use his BCS for the type in use. If using a net he would use his Trapping BCS. The character will acquire a number of man-days of rations equal t o the result of an Effect Die roll times a multiplier representing the abundance of fish in the area. This factor is at the Gamesmasters decree. With Trap form, use characters Wit Group and with Hook form use his Deftness Group to determine the Effect Die t o be rolled. Acquiring these rations will take the whole day. Any travel done that day will reduce the characters base BCS to one half. More than a half days travel will prevent him from practicing this Skill. When Trapping a plus 1 will be added to the multiplier for each set trap. When using Hooking methods, a failure indicates the loss of 1D6 hooks whileasuccessful roll means the loss of only 103 minus 1. Gambling DFT + WT + Charismatic 1 This Skill can provide a source of income to the character if he is successful. The Effect Number of the characters roll indicates the multiplier to the base bet if he should win. If he fails his BCS roll the difference between the die roll and his BCS is the multiplier to the base bet used to determine his losses. The characters opponent will also make a Gambling BCS roll. i f he makes it the Effect Number will be subtracted from the characters BCS before he rolls. If the opponent fails his roll, the difference between the roll and the BCS will be added to the Player Characters BCS before he rolls. Initial equipment for this Skill will be dice or playing cards at the players option. 1 Handicraft (specify)s DFT + WT + Talent This is a grouping of Skills rather than a single Skill. A character will have a specified handicraft such as rope making, basket weaving, pottery making, etc. A character may have more than one Handicraft Skill. The Gamesmaster will adjudicate which Talent is the Governing Talent for a particular Handicraft. Any initial equipment would depend on the Handicraft in question and it is left for the Gamesmaster to decide what if anything would be received. 1 SeamanshipA HLH + DFT + Natural This Skill represents the characters sea-legs and his general knowledge of the sea and its ways. For details of the effects of this Skill in Detailed Action Time see Effects of Water on Movement and Combat on page 32 of Book 1. Survival (specify) HLH + WL + Natural 1 This Skill represents a characters basic capability to fend
SUPPORT WEAPONS
Autowea ponA DFT + WT + Combative 1 This Skill is dealt with in more detail in thesection on guns. It is primarily designed to deal with fixed mount automatic weapons. It also is used to average with the appropriate modern Firearm Skill if the character is using a weapon which has automatic or burst fire capability and is operating it in such a mode. Breech Loading Artillery DFT + WT + Combative 1 This Skill covers serving as a member of a gun crew for a modern style breech loading artillery piece. As with many of the Support weapon Skills it has little place in the standard rules which are designed for man-to-man conflict but is included in the Skills listing as a guileline. 1 Direct Fire Cannon DFT + WT + Combative This Skill is intended to cover such weapons as recoilless rifles, anti-tank artillery and tank main guns. Grenade Launcher A DFT + WT + Combative 1 This Skill covers the use of such weapons as the M-79 grenade launcher and also has an averaging function with such things as rifle grenades. When a miss occurs with one of these weapons use the procedure for a miss with a thrown weapon but the destination hex will be 2D10 meters away from the target hex instead of 203. Missile Launcher WT + OFT + Combative 1 (Technology Use) This Skill covers the launching and subsequent control of non-portable missile systems whether for surface-to-surface or surface-to-air systems. Mortar DFT + WT + Combative 1 This Skill covers serving as a member of a mortar crew. Muzzle Loading Artillery DFT + WT + Combative 1 This Skill covers serving as a crew member for a primitive cannon. Primitive Seige Engine WT + DFT + Combative 1 This Skill governs the design and employment of such seige engines as catapults, rams, onagers, etc. Rocket Launcher DFT + WT + Combative 1 This Skill covers the use of man-portable rocket and missile systems such as bazookas, LAWSand other portable anti-tank or anti-aircraft guided missiles.
NON-TECHNICAL PHYSICAL SKILLS

Beast Riding A This Skill governs the riding and controlling of horses. Bicycle Riding*A DFT + STR + Mechanical 1 Allows operation and minor repair of bicycles, tricycles, and mopeds. A character making his Bicycle Riding BCS when under fire may add his Skill score divided by 20 and rounded down to the Combat Dodge Ability acquired for the speed of the vechicle.
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for himself in a specified environment such as Rural, Urban, Artic, Desert, or Oceanic environments. A successful BCS roll will allow a character to gather enough food for a day in the environment where his Survival Skill operates. A die roll of 1 allows a Wit Group Effect Die roll to determine the number of man-days of rations acquired. This Skill can also allow a character to recognize danger in the environment if a succesful BCS roll is made.
The Gamesmaster should make the Stealth BCS rolls as the character would only know he was discovered if any noise he made had been heard. A failed BCS means that the noise made by the character is a Hidden Thing. A Critical Failure requires a second BCS roll. Success this time means that the Hidden Thing is discovered on an Ability Saving Throw instead of a Critical Saving Throw and failure indicates that the character has been heard.
SwimmingA
HLH + STR + Natural 1 Any character may play in the water but this Skill is used to forestall drowning and to swim in dangerous waters. Details of the effects of Swimming Skill on movement in the water are given on page 32 of Book 1. Combat Skills used while in the water are usually averaged with the characters Swimming Skill.
WT + Natural + Natural 1 This Skill allows a character to follow a trail. A BCS roll must be made at each decision point (anywhere the trail may lead in more than one direction). The older the trail is, the harder it will be to follow. The exact difficulty is left to the Gamesmaster. A basic difficulty might be -1 to the baseBCS for every 3 hours that have passed since the trail was made. Trails can also be obscured using this Skill. A successful BCS allows the character to roll the Effect Die for his Wit Group. This result is the negative modifier to the BCS of anyone trying to use Tracking Skill to follow the trail. DFT + WT + Natural 2(Trap/Shoot) In form this Skill operates exactly like Fishing Skill except that it operates in a non-watery environment. When using Shooting, 1D6 rounds will be expended for each BCS roll whether or not it is successful. If the missile weapon in use has reusable ammunition, the character may recover a number of rounds equal to his Wit Group Effect Die
NON-TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGES
Advanced FarmingT
WT + DFT + Natural 1 (Dirt Farming) This is a reconstructionist Skill dealing with proper farm planning and scientific methods of maximizing production. A successful roll will increase the crop yield multiplier by .1 times the Effect Number. A failure will decrease the multiplier by the Effect Number. Critical failure results in the loss of the crop. Soil analysis equipment, almanacs and weather forecasts, chemical fertilizers, etc., are needed to perform with this Skill. DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This Skill allows a character to produce arrows and bows. With the proper materials and equipment, the character may, in a day, produce arrows or work on a bow. The character can produce a number of arrows equal to his Deftness Group Effect Die roll. The production work on a bow wi!l take a number of days equal to 15 minus his Deftness Group Effect Die Roll. In the case of a bow using wood in its construction, the wood must be cured and prepared. This process will take 2D6 weeks but does not require the constant supervision of the Bowyer. A unit of arrow type material (whether for heads, shafts, or fletching) will serve for 10 arrows. The tools needed for this Skill are found in aTool Kit 1. A simple knife is sufficient but will triple all working times. DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 Using various tools with this Skill, the character may build various things of wood. A job should be rated by the Gamesmaster as to how many units of material i t will take, its Task Value and Period. This Skill utilizes the basic Task mechanic. Finished Task Points are based on the characters Deftness.
1 WL + WT + Charismatic This Skill is used in the barter process in attempts to get a better price, for either the good offered or those sought. It is averaged with the characters best Skill governing the use of the item sought or offered. In this case of averaging, the modified BCS may not exceed the BCS in Commerce although it may exceed that in the other Skill. Any Skill that deals with the item being bartered may be used to average with Commerce. For details of the barter process and the appropriate uses of the Commerce Skill see page 51.
Tracking
Bowyer
Hunting*
Roll.
Search
WT + WT + Natural 2(Urban/Rural) This Skill represents a practiced ability to locate something significant. It is used for locating a useful item in a pile of junk, ascertaining the structural soundness of something like a staircase or a log over a chasm, and discovering things which have been hidden. In general, one character will lead a search and his BCS will be modified by the number of other characters who are under his direction. The Gamesmaster will decide if a particular application of the Skill requires Urban or Rural form.
CarpentryT
Commerce
Stealth
DFT + WT + Natural 2(Urban/Rural) This Skill allows the character to move and/or perform actions quietly. Outside of Detailed Action Time, a character may move a distance in meters equal to his Base Action Phase before having to check his Stealth BCS again. In Detailed Action Time, the checks are made on each Combat Turn.
Culture
WT + Communicative + Esthetic 2( Pre-/Post-Ruin) This Skill represents the characters familiarity with the popular culture. It covers such things as slang, social conventions, general knowledge of local groups, etc. In its Pre-Ruin form it is also concerned with history and general knowledge of the situations and circumstances prevailing at the time of the Ruin. In campaigns set long after the Ruin, the Gamesmaster may declare Post-Ruin culture as the Skill available to all characters and treat Pre-Ruin Culture as a harder-to-obtain Skill that is really History. He may also, in such circumstances, create another Skill of Legendry which deals with the popular notions of what it was 1ikeback then. Such a Skill would be more easily attainable than History.
18
Dirt Farming HLH + DFT + Natural 1 This Skill allows a character t o raise a crop. Hoes, plows, gathering equipment and seeds are needed. The basic yield is the characters Wit Group Effect Die roll divided by 2 and rounded to the nearest tenth. This is multiplied by the units of seed in cultivation to get the units of crop.
1 Fermentation WT + Natural + Natural This Skill allows a character to produce such things as beers, wines, and meads. The Effect Die roll of the Group for the characters combined Wit and Deftness times 10 is the percentage of the starting materials that is transformed into liters of potable product (to a maximum of 100%). The maximum percentage of alcohol present is equal to the Effect Number. This may be reduced to any level below the maximum that the character desires. A Character may work with a number of units of raw materials (yeast, water, and fermentable material) equal to his Deftness times 2. Exercising this Skill is usually done in weekly turns. The character may perform other long-term actions during the week but he will be Hindered by his activity using this Skill.
Masonrys DFT + DFT + Mechanical 1 This Skill allows the character to perform such tasks as bricklaying. The Gamesmaster will assign a Task Value and the character may perform it following the basic Task rules. This Skill may also be used to gauge the strength of a wall or man-made edifice. Nutritionist WT + Scientific + Natural 1 This Skill allows a character to determine the edibility of foodstuffs. This allows contaminated food to be avoided. Repair, Muscle powered vehicles DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Carpentry) This Skill represents the characters knowledge of such things as carts, sledges, wagons, and other such conveyances. A BCS roll is made to determine the job to be done, which is then accomplished with Carpentry Skill.
Foreign Language (specify) WT + WL + Communicative 1 This is the ability to speak a foreign language. The exact language must be specified. Literacy in the language is a separate Skill. InterrogationS WL + WT + Charismatic 1 This Skill allows a character to interrogate another to get information from him. The Gamesmaster will present the interrogator with conclusions drawn from the information gotten from the subject. A Critical Miss will result in incorrect conclusions being drawn. For each period of interrogation, the interrogating character will roll the Effect Die for the Group of the sum of his Wit and Will. This will give a base number of interrogation points. The subject will make a Will Saving Throw. A critical save (die roll of 1) means that he will never break in this interrogation although the Gamesmaster need not inform the players of that fact. A roll in his Critical Saving Throw range will divide the base number of interrogation points by 3, round down, and a roll in the Ability Saving Throw range will divide them by 2, round down. When the total of interrogation points exceed the subjects Will Attribute score he has broken and will tell the interrogator what he can. If the subjects Will Saving Throw is a 20 at any point, he is considered to have broken in that session. Application of sophisticated methods of physical or psychological torture will act as multipliers to the base interrogation points. The exact value of such things is left t o the fiendish imagination of the Gamesmaster. Alternatively, they may make the interrogation period shorter, or make it both shorter and more effective. A basic interrogation period of 1 hour is recommended as a starting point. LeatherworkingT DFT + WT + Esthetic 1 Leatherworking Skill allows a character to produce welltanned hides with a successful BCS roll. A failed roll results in poorly-tanned hides. The character may make hides into garments. This requires 1 unit of hide per Location to be covered and has a Task Value equal to the Armor Value on one Location times the number of Locations to be covered. The process of Hardening leather takes a week. A character with Leatherworking Skill may supervise the Hardening of a number of garment equal to his Wit Group. Literacy (specify) WT + WT + Communicative 1 This Skill governs the reading and writing of a language. When using a book the character must make a Literacy BCS roll to receive any benefits. The language(s) in which the character is literate must be specified.
1 Salvage Food WT + DFT + Scientific (Nutritionist) This Skill allows a character to salvage a portion of contaminated foodstuffs. A successful BCS roll allows the character to make a Wit Group Effect Die roll. This result is multiplied by 5 to give the percentage of the food that is salvaged.
Tactics WT + Combative + Communicative 1 This Skill allows a character to make observations of the tactical situation, causing the Gamesmaster to give the player information regarding thesituation that the player has not figured out for himself. Such things as where the leader is, the possible presence of snipers or flanking forces, the implications of an observed move on the part of an enemy, etc., can be learned. The exact knowledge given out is at the discretion of the Gamesmaster and should be considered ca refuIIy. Tailor DFT + DFT + Esthetic 1 This Skill allows a character to produce garments in Flexible, Quiltable materials. Garment production follows that presented with Leatherworking Skill. WeaverISpinner DFT + WT + Esthetic
With this Skill a character can produce fabric from raw materials. The raw materials are rated by the Gamesmaster in units which will provide a unit of fabric that may then be used with Tailor Skill.
TECHNICAL PHYSICAL SKILLS

Automobile Driving DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) This Skill governs the operation of cars and trucks.
1
Basic Research WT + WT + Scientific 1 This Skill represents the characters ability to get information from research materials. It is a basic Skill required for some sciences. In cultures with computer storage of such materials, the additional use of Technology Use will allow a character access to such materials. Heavy Equipment DrivingT DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill governs the operation of such things as bulldozers, cranes, and other earthmovers. It also governs the driving of military vehicles such as tanks and armored personnel carriers. Lab Technique DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill represents the characters ability to perform functions in a laboratory environment. It is used to perform tasks which require chemical synthesis or analysis. This Skill is required for many advanced scientific knowledges.
19
LockpickingTSE
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 The name of this Skill explains its nature. The rules for locks and lockpicking are found in Book 1 on page 46.
1
Magnalock PenetrationTpE DFT + WT + Mechanical
(Technology Use) Magnalocks are locks using card-keys. They require power to be operative. If they are operative, a character with this Skill, who also has a magnatuner, can attempt to open them. They operate like combination locks (as presented on page 46 in Book 1) in that they have numbers in the combination which must be separately achieved.
This Skill is also a basic requirement if a character wishes to make metal armor although the actual Task is accomplished using an averaged BCS. Practice of this Skill requires a forge and blacksrnithing tools.
Botany is
WT + Scientific + Natural 2(Pre-/Post-Ruin) This Skill allows the character to recognize plant life. I f the plants involved have specific functions in the game, the Gamesmaster would inform the player of the nature of those functions. WT +. Scientific + Mechanical 1 This Skill is a basic science required for the basic performance with Skills requiring chemical knowledge. WT + Scientific + Mechanical 2( Programming/System Design) Each of the areas of this Skill works differently. For each 20 points of Programming the character acquires 1 computer language. A character must know the correct language for a program in order to apply Programming Skill. Either a character knows a language or he does not. Variations on a language are treated as negative modifiers to his BCS roll. Computer languages are numbered 1 to 5 for convenience. Any Gamesmaster wishing to get into more specific detail is encouraged to do so, but he should remember that some of his players may not have the same expertise with modern computers that he does. With Programming, a character may write new programs for a computer as a Task. Cracking acomputers security isa lengthy Task and should have increased turn lengths on the order of a week per turn, as opposed to a normal Programming turn of a day. System Design is the Skill used to coordinate the programming of a computer with the various peripheral devices which will execute the program and perform the functions called for in the program. The proper design for integrating all this is treated as a Task.
Motorcycle DrivingTpA
DFT + WT + Mechanical
Chemistry
(Technology Use) This Skill governs the control of motorcycles. It can also be used for controlling mopeds. Powerboat Pilot DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill governs the control of motor-powered small craft.
Computer ScienceS
(Technology Use)
Technology UseS
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This is a basic Skill required for most technical Skills. It represents the characters ability to deal with mechanical contrivances and the rationale behind them. For example, to operate an elevator correctly a character would require Technology Use Skill.
TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGES
Aerial Recon InterpretationS WT + Scientific + Esthetic 1
(Technology Use, Basic Research, and Mathematics) A successful use of this Skill allows correct interpretation of aerial reconnaissance photographs and other similar intelligence materials.
Advanced MedicalS
WT + DFT + Scientific 1 (Lab Technique and First Aid) Many of the applications of this Skill are given in the sections on damage and healing in the first book. WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use, Basic Research, and Mathematics) Besides allowing a character to perform the Task of designing structures, this Skill allows a character to gauge the structural soundness of a man-made construction. DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Blacksmithing for metal armors/Plastics Forming for plastic armors) This Skill allows the character with the proper tools to produce armor in the same way that a character with Leatherworking Skill produces garments, except that his score in Armorer Skill is averaged with his score in the Skill governing the material being worked in order to determine the characters BCS for performing theTask.This BCS is not to exceed the lower of the two normal Basic Chances of Success. This Skill requires a forge and the proper tools for working the materials involved Automobile MechanicT DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill allows a character to make repairs on cars, trucks, motorcycles and other land vehicles. Repairs are treated as a Task. Details of Repairing vehicles are found in the section on Vehicles on page 62. Blacksmithing DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill allows the character to make useful items out Of metal. Each item is treated as a Task and the Gamesmaster must decide on the required amount of raw material and the number of Task Points involved.
ArchitectureS
DecontaminationS
ArmorerT
WT + DFT + Scientific 1 (Lab Technique) This Skill represents the characters ability to cope with decontamiation of persons and things with regard to nuclear, biological, or chemical contaminants. Proper technique may require equipment. A successful BCS roll will mean that the character knows the proper technique. A second roll, and the proper supplies or equipment, are necessary to complete the process. DFT+ WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) The name of this Skill is self-explanatory. T o perform with it, a character must average his score in this Skill with the score in the Skill governing the type of explosive to be defused in order to determine his BCS. At the Gamesmasters decree the Task of defusing an explosive device may require tools. The Task Periods may be as short as 1 Combat Turn. A failure will mean the device will explode at its planned time. A Critical failure will cause it to explode immediately. A character with a BCS of 20 will avoid the critical failure i f he can make a Deftness Critical Saving Throw. Demolitions A;r DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill governs the placement and use of explosive substances. A character will average his score with his score in the Explosives Skill governing the type of explosives in use. Details of use of this Skill are given in the section on explosive devices on page 44. DistillationT WT + Mechanical + Scientific 1 (Technology Use)
Defusing Explosives AS
20
This Skill allows the character to distill alcohol, either for consumption by humans of for vehicles. The percentage of starting materials turned into liters of usable alcohol is the sum of the characters Wit Group and Deftness Group Effect Die rolls multiplied by the Efficiency Factor of the still. A character may work with a number of units of raw materials equal to his Deftness plus his Wit. Exercising of this Skill is usually done in weekly turns. This Skill requires the characters full attention. A home-made still built by a character with Distillation Skill will have an efficiency factor of .1 times the sum of that characters Effect Die rolls for his Wit and Deftness Groups. No still will give more than a 90% efficiency. DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) A character with this Skill may perform electrical repairs and rework circuits. Such attempts are Tasks and will be treated as such. Some operations will require tools but the simple tracing of a circuit will not. Thisskill does not include the design of new electrical circuits, although it will allow a character to build a new one from a circuit diagram and the proper materials. WT + Scientific + Esthetic 1 (Basic Research) Decoding and encoding messages are Tasks. Decoding requires a successful BCS roll to achieve the characters Wit Group Effect Die roll inTask Pointsfinished. Critical success indicates the code is broken and critical failure seems to indicate the same thing but the message will be read incorrectly. Encoding does not require a BCS roll but the character still requires time to perform the Task. A code will subtract its Difficulty from the BCS roll of any character trying to break it. A character can produce a code as aTask. In weekly turns,thecharactermayfinishanumber of Task Points equal to his Wit Group Effect Die roll. For every 20 points thus accumulated,the character will give the code a difficulty of 1. The maximum difficulty that a character may give to the code is equal to twice his Wit Group.
Electrician
maximum number of rounds that may be reloaded in that period. A single round requires 1 primer, 1 cartridge of a specific caliber, 1 bullet compatible with the cartridge, and a number of grains of powder equal to the BDG of that caliber. A round may be loaded with twice the normal powder to achieve a Hi-V round. The Efficiency Factor of the Handloading Kit will be altered by the results of the characters BCS roll. I f successful, the Effect Number times .1 will be added to the Factor and, if unsuccessful, the Effect Number times .1 will be subtracted from it. A Critical failure means that the expected number of rounds are completed but, when fired, they will automatically indicate a Critical Miss. Control Throws will be applicable at that point.
Internal Combustion Engine

(Physics and Mathematics) WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 This Skill represents the characters facility with understanding and designing internal combustion engines. Design is, of course, a Task and weekly turns are usual. This is not a repair Skill.
Encryption
Machining
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill is a metal-working Skill allowing a character to produce metal artifacts when using at least a Tool Kit 2. Each artifact will be rated by the Gamesmaster as a Task. This Skill can also govern woodworking with power tools. DFT + WT +Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill functions as does Automobile Mechanic except that it deals with vehicles which move on the water.
Marine Mechanic
Mathematics
WT + Scientific + Communicative 1 This is a basic scientific Skill and is also required if a character is to perform mathematical computations. (Technology Use and Physics) WT + Mechanical + Scientific 1 This Skill represents the characters understanding and familiarity with such things as windmills, waterwheels, and other devices used to gain mechanical advantage. It also covers his ability to design such devices.
Mechanically Generated Power
Firearms Repair, ModernT
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Firearms Repair, Primitive and Machining) This Skill allows a character to restore Durability to firearms given time, equipment, and parts. It also allows a character to lay down specifications for parts of firearms to be produced using other Skills such as Machining. Each point of Durability requiresa unit of parts, aTool Kit2 and the accomplishment of 10 Task Points.
Operational Command
(Tactics) WT + Combative + Scientific 1 This Skill is used by the commander of a side in Tactical Level Combat as explained in Book 3. It representstheability to command large groups of men in military endeavors.
Firearms Repair, PrimitiveT DFT + WT + Mechanical (Blacksmithing or Machining)
This Skill functions as the Modern form except that it is used for primitive firearms.
Pathology
First Aid
WT + DFT + Scientific 1 This Skill covers basic medical treatment on an immediate level. Specific applications are given in the section on damage and healing in Book 1. DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill allows a character to reload spent centerfire cartridges when he has the tools, supplies, and time necessary. Handloading Kits are classified as pistol, rifle, or shotgun. They are also rated for an Efficiency Factor. Cartridges and bullets are specific to a given caliber. Primers are interchangeable and powder is allocated according to the BDG. For each reloading period of an hour, a character may assemble a base number of rounds equal to his Deftness Group Effect Die roll. This base number is multiplied by the modified Efficiency Factor of the Handloading Kit to give the
Handloading
WT + WT + Scientific 1 (Chemistry and Advanced Medical) This is the medical Skill which deals with diseases. Details are given in the section dealing with diseases in Book 1 . Pharmacy WT + DFT +Scientific 1 (Chemistry and Lab Technique) This Skill represents the characters knowledge of the techniques necessary to produce particular drugs. A successful BCS means that he has remembered the technique correctly. Critical failure means that he only believes that he has, and the end product will be something else enti rely. The actual production of a drug requires the exercise of Lab Technique Skill. Each drug should be rated as a Task and Task Periods are usually a day. Once the Task is finished, the number of units of drug will be determined. A potential unit of drug will consume a number of units of chemical supplies. The maximum number of potential units controllable by a character is equal to his Wit Group times the Efficiency Factor of the Lab, round nearest. The
ai
percentage of potential units of drug that are actually made into usable drug is equal to the characters Wit Group Effect Die roll multiplied by 10 and then multiplied by the modified Efficiency Factor of the Lab in use. The maximum conversion rate is 90%. Any fractional units are lost. The Efficiency Factor of the Lab is modified by the characters Pharmacy BCS rolls Effect Number in the usual fashion. This roll is separate from the roll to determine if he knows the correct technique. If any of the Lab Technique rolls should be a 20, the resultant drugs will actually be poisons. The formula is left to the Gamesmaster but it is suggested that it reflect the formula or effects of the drug that was supposedly being synthesized. A Pharmacy BCS roll, modified by the Effect Number from the roll which produced the poison, will detect it at the end of the process. Physicss WT + Mechanical + Scientific 1 (Mathematics) A basic scientific Skill required for advanced techniques. Plastics Forming DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill allows a character with the tools and units of plastic stock to produce artifacts of plastic. Each artifact will be rated by the Gamesmaster as aTask for the amount of raw material to be consumed, time period required, and number of Task Points. Practice of this Skill requires the use of a Plastics Forming Kit. Such Kits will be rated for weight of plastics that they can deal with and for the type of forming that may be done with them. Radio CommunicationsS WT + DFT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill represents the characters understanding of the principals and mechanics of radio communication and the devices used in it. Electrician Skill is required to make repairs or build such devices but a character with Electrician Skill must follow the directions of a character with this Skill to do
except that its area of expertise deals with telegraph communications. Telephone Communications WT + DFT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill functions as does Radio Communications Skill, except that its area of expertise deals with telephone communications. Television CommunicatlonsS WT + DFT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill functions as does Radio Communications Skill, except that its area of expertise deals with television communications. Therapy WT + DFT + Scientific 1 (Advanced Medical) This advanced medical Skill deals with restoration of lost Attribute points and maintenance of current scores. Details of applications of this Skill are given in Book 1 in the sections on damage and healing and in the section on the effects of aging. Weaponsmithing DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Blacksmithing or Machining for metal; Machining or Carpentry for wood) This Skill is the weapon-producing counterpart of Armorer Skill. The prerequisite Skill will depend o n the type of weapon to be made. The Task Value of a weapon is its basic WDM times its Survival Value and the basic Task Period is a day. When aweapon ha5 a wooden shaft and a metal head, each part must be made separately and not necessarily by the same character. The Task Value of the head is twice the WDM and the Value of the shaft is twice the Survival Value. A die roll of 1 during the process will add .1 times the characters Deftness Group to the WDM or subtract that value from the ENC Value at the weaponsmiths choice. A die roll of 20 will both add to the ENC value and subtract from the WDM a number equal to .1 times the Effect Number. Machining metal for an edged surface (a weapon which does L type damage) will reduce the WDM by .1 times (6 minus the characters score in Machining divided by 20 and rounded down). The characters score in Weaponsmithing Skill is averaged with his score in the Skill covering the material being worked on to determine thecharacters BCS for performing theTask. The tools required for this Skill are those required for the Skill being used on the particular material. Zoologys WT + Scientific + Natural 2(Pre-/Post-Ruin) This Skill is the counterpart of Botany Skill. It deals with the characters knowledge of animals. A successful BCS roll would allow the player to view the entry for the animal in Book 3, if it is a standard one, or the entry in the Gamesmasters notebook, if it is one he has added to the list.
so.
Design of radio communications is a Task that is governed by this Skill. Simple ExplosivesS DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Chemistry and Lab Technique) This Skill functions with respect to producing simple explosives such as TNT, nitroglycerine, blasting caps, etc., as Pharmacy Skill does with respect to drugs. Initial critical failure on the Simple Explosive BCS roll will result in an inert substance. The explosives equivalent of a poison is an unstable substance which will explode at the end of the manufacturing process. The Simple Explosives BCS roll to identify such a failure may br made before the explosion, allowing the character to aborr the process with only the loss of time and materials. This Skill also represents the characters ability to assemble simple detonation devices and the proper placement of explosives of the type covered by the Skill. Strategic Command WT + Scientific + Combative 1 (Operational Command) This Skill is a higher powered version of Operational Command Skill. It is called into play when the Gamesmaster wishes to resolve the results of a whole series of Tactical Level Battles forming a military campaign in short order. If he is using the military campaign rules presented in Book 3, this Skill has a different function which is explained in detail there. Simply put, it may affect the size of the forces involved. Telegraphy DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) This Skill functions as does Radio Communications Skill,
HIGH TECHNOLOGY PHYSICAL SKILLS

(All these Skills require Technology Use)
1 Aviation MechanicT DFT + WT + Mechanical (High Technology Use) This Skill is the counterpart to Automobile Mechanic but is used for aircraft.
High Technology UseS DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This Skill allows the character to deal with highly technological devices that are not covered by a specific Skill. In some cases, it will also allow him to use devices that are covered under a particular Skill, although hewill not have the facility with them nor will they have the versatility normally accruing to them that a character with the proper Skill will have. This latter case applies to ECM devices, control boards, and other equipment.
22
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This Skill governs the operation and control of fixed-wing aircraft.
Pilot, Fixed Wing'
Pilot, Submersible
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This Skill governs the operation and control of small underwater vehicles such as mini-subs.
'
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This Skill governs the operation and control of rotarywinged aircraft such as helicopters.
Pilot, Rotary Wing
'
WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 (Chemistry and Lab Technique) This Skill allows a character, with the proper equipment and the raw materials, to produce plastic stock. The process works as the production of drugs using Pharmacy Skill. The equivalent to the production of a poison is a useless batch which only costs time and raw materials. Fora Lab, a Plastics Synthesization Kit is substituted. These are rated according to Efficiency Factor and type of production.
Plastic Synthesizatlon'
Pilot, Spacecraft'
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Zero-G Training and High Technology Use) This Skill governs the operation and control of small to medium spacecraft such as the shuttle.
Power Generation, Electrical

(Physics, Mechanically Generated Power, and Electrician) WT +Scientific + Mechanical 1 This Skill is concerned with the design and operation of power plants t o generate electrical energy from fossil fuel or hydroelectric sources. Design of such plants is a very large Task.
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This Skill governs the operation and control of VTOL or STOL aircraft such as the Hawker Harrier.
Pilot, Variable Wing'
Power Generation, Nuclear WT +Scientific +Mechanical 1

(Power Generation Electrical) This Skill is similar to the one above but deals with nuclear energy sources.
SafecrackingTsE
DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This Skill governs the opening of combination locks without having the combination. Combination locks are dealt with on page 47 of Book 1.
Power Generation, Solar WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1

(Physics and High Technology Use) This Skill is similar to those above but deals with solar energy sources.
SCUBA DivingAsT DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 This Skill governs the use of underwater breathing apparatus. It may be used to substitute for Swimming Skill whenever it is called for in the rules for operating underwater in Detailed Action Time on page 33 i n Book 1.
A diver may add a number of combat turns (equal t o his score in the Skill divided by 20 and rounded down) to the maximum time he may hold his breath.
Productionof Fuel, Hydride' WT +Scientific +Mechanical 1

(Chemistry and Lab Technique) This Skill allows a character, with the proper equipment and the raw materials, to produce metallic hydrides which release hydrogen to be burned as fuel in certain engines. This process works as the production of drugs using Pharmacy Skill. The equivalent of a poison is a labexplosion with a blast effect equal to the Effect Number of the roll which produced it. This explosion will, in any case, destroy that batch and the raw materials Involved. The total damage done is the percent chance that the Lab will be totallydestroyed. If it is not destroyed it will be Disrepaired (40% chance) or Junked (the other 60%).
Zero-G Training A
SPD + DFT + Natural 1 This Skill is used in a zero-G environment in much the same way that Swimming Skill is used when the character is in water over his head. All physical Skills must be averaged with it to determine the base BCS, which in thiscase isnever higher than the BCS in whichever Skill has the lower BCS.
HIGH TECHNOLOGY KNOWLEDGESS

Complex Explosives DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Simp le Explosives) This Skill is an advanced form of Simple Explosives Skill
and operates in the smae way but deals with more advanced explosives such as plastic explosives and other such wonders of modern technology.
Computer Design
WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 (Computer Science, Mathematics, and High Technology Use) This Skill allows the character to design computer hardware as a Task. Once designed, it must be built and powered before it can be operated. This Skill isalso useful in figuring out a computer layout, if one should be found, and determining what would have to be done to get it functioning again. DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (High Technology Use) This Skill allows a character who has access to Electronic Counter Measure equipment a chance t o increase its efficiency by the Effect Number of his BCS roll. He may decrease it if his BCS roll fails. WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 (High Technology Use) This Skill represents the character's understanding of laser technology for the purposes of working with it, repairing it or designing it. Any repair or construction work would be in the province of an appropriate Skill but the knowledge of what to solder where, for example, would come from this Skill. Designs or other working diagrams are a Task.
Production of Fuel, Petroleum' (Chemistry and Lab Technique) WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 This Skill allows a character, with the proper equipment and the raw materials, to produce fuel petroleum. This process works as the production of drugs with Pharmacy Skill. The equivalent of a poison is a lab explosion as detailed above.
ECM Operation'
Laser Technology
23
FIREARMS
Characters may well be said to live (and die) by the Gun. Current estimates place millions of weapons and billions of rounds in this country alone. With modern storage techniques, guns and ammo broken out of factory packaging will almost certainly work as well 20-30 years after manufacture as they do fresh from the maker. Garners with firearms experience will find some rules here that they disagree with (if we may judge by the response from our playtesters). As always, the Gamesmaster may certainly choose to modify the rules for his campaign in any way he sees fit. We would like to point out that more authentic gun rules may be difficult for Players who do not share his experience with such weapons, and counsel prudence in any such expansions. This chapter is divided into several sections: A brief introduction to the workings of modern firearms. Rules for the operation of guns. Rules for ammunition and gunshop effects. Other fixearms (machine guns, black powder weapons, heavy weapons, mortars, etc.). Appendices appear at the end of Book 3, containing examples of real weapons translated into Aftermath! terms and a Gun List for the Gamesmasters use.
BARREL LENGTH
Up to a given length, the longer a barrel is, the faster its bullet will travel. Longer weapons are more accurate (as a rule) than shorter ones. This is one reason why rifles have greater range than pistols, and fire with more power. But of course, the longer a barrel is, the bulkier the weapon will be, making for higher Encumbrance, and requiring two handsto fire properly. The standard abbreviation for Barrel Length is BBL. The standard BBL values are as follows: PISTOLS Snub-nosed (SNUB): BBL less than 3 (7.62cm). Short (SHT): BBL 3-4 (7.62-10.16cm) Standard (STD): BEL 4-7 (10.16-17.78cm) Long (LNG): BBL 10-12 (17.78-25.3cm) Extra Long (XLNG): BBL 10-12 (25.4-30.48crn) Pistol Carbine BBL 12 (30.48crn) o r more
All of the Pistol sizes arefired using PISTOLSkill; however it requires TWO hands to properly handleany weapon with a Pistol Carbine BBL. Long guns will rarely run shorter than about 16 in length.
LONG GUNS Carbine: Any Long Gun with a BBL of 20 (50.8cm) or less Rifle: Any Long Gun with a BBL of over 20 (50.8crn) Also included in this class are Shotguns and certain automatlc weapons, called Sub-Machine guns. It requires two hand to properly fire any Long Gun. In keeping the playing record of any firearm, the class of BBL must be noted, as it will be referred to often.
HOW GUNS WORK

This section is primarily intended for those who requirean overview of how firearms function, and to provide readers with the underlying rationale behind the Aftermath! gun rules. A firearm is any weapon using the force generated by igniting gunpowder to fire a projectile.Thisdefinition covers everything from early cannon-locks to M-16, from derringers to howitzers. The firearms we will be concentrating on in this section and the weapons most often used in Aftermath! are classified as SMALL ARMS. By this we mean weapons which are designed to be carried easily and used by a singlecharacter. Heavier weapons, such as machineguns, mortars, bazookas, etc., are classified as SUPPORT WEAPONS, and are discussed on page 37. There are two primary forms of Small Arms: Pistols and Long Guns, the latter also called Shoulder Arms. The Revolver is the commonest example of the Pistol, and the Rifle is the obvious example of the Long Gun. The only real effect theseclassifications have in thegame if thequestion of which Skill is used to fire the weapon in combat: PISTOL Skill applies to Pistols, and RIFLE Skill to Long Guns. A Pistol is defined as being small enough to fire easily in one hand, although two may be required in the case of very long ones. Their other distinguishing feature is the fact that they are held by a pistol grip, or butt, having no shoulder stock. Long Guns are usually possessed of barrels over 18 (50cm) and are fitted with a Shoulder Stock. This latter feature is their main distinguishing mark. They are generally heavier and fire more powerful ammo than Pistols, with greater range, accuracy and hitting power.
ENCUMBRANCE
The Encumbrance of a gun is drawn from the weapons size and the weight of the real model being adapted to the game system. A Base ENC is assigned to the form of the weapon, to which its real weight in kg/lO is added. Pistol SNUB or SHT: Base ENC equals .2 Pistol STD or LNG: Base ENC equals .3 Pistol XLNG: Base ENC equals .5 Pistol Carbine or Carbine: Base ENC equals .7 Rifle: Base ENC equals 1 Shotgun: Base ENC equals 1.2 Riot Gun (Sawed-off Shotgun): Base ENC equals .8 Eg. the M-1 Garand Rifleof WWll i s a BIG gun. Weighing in at 4.4 kg (9.5 Ib.) it will have an ENC of 1 (Base ENC for Rifles) plus .4, or 1.4. Contrariwise, a little 32 ACP caliber autoloading pistol, a Saturday Night Special, weighing barely 10 oz., has an ENC of .24.
PHYSICAL SPEC IFICAT I0NS

In these rules we will be quantifying a number of physical characteristics of real weapons for purposes of constructing a game model.
357 Magnum
24
GUN ACTION The Gun Action is the internal mechanism of the weapon, controlling how often it fires, the manner in which it clears the spent cartridge casing, prepares a new cartridge, cocks, and fires again. There are three major classes of Gun Action:
SINGLE SHOT ACTIONS: The weapon requires manual action by the firer to prepare for each shot. The principal forms of Single Shot Actions are as follows: Single Shot (SS): The weapon only holds one cartridge at a time. After it is fired, the gun must be reloaded. Single Action (SA): The weapon must be manually cocked after each shot. This type of Action is usually found in the six-shooters of the Old West, although modern replicas of these guns may also be made with Single Action mechanisms. Bolt Action (BA): Usually found only in rifles, a bolt mounted at the back of the barrel must be worked manually to eject the spent shell, chamber a new one for firing, and cock the weapon. Lever Action (LA): The famous Winchester carbine is the classic example of a Lever Action rifle. A lever mounted around the guns trigger must be pumped to perform the eject-chamber-cock cycle needed for the next shot. Pump Action (PA): This is also called Slide Action, or even Trombone Action. A sliding sleeve is mounted along the bottom of the gunstock, along the barrel. The firer must pump this forward and then back in order to eject, chamber, and cock the weapon. MULTI-SHOT ACTIONS: These firearms are designed SO that all the user needs to do for his next shot is pull the trigger. The principal forms are:
in close combat is achieved by firing short bursts of 3-4

rounds each. However, under stress, many a dogface will clamp down on his trigger, spraying bullets wildly and emptying his clip to no profit. Thus, many new assault rif!es and sub-machine guns incorporate an intermediate setting between AL fire (semi-automatic) and FA, or Full Automatic. This is the Auto-Burst. The weapon will fire a set number of rounds (usually 3) every time the trigger is pulled. This permits the use of automatic weapons without wasting shots or causing unforeseen jamming. It should be mentioned that automatic fire can befound as a Gun Action in several different forms of gun. Modern military rifles and carbines generally have autofire capability. There are also the Sub-Machine Guns, orSMG. which come in two sizes. The larger is classed as a Carbine, the smaller as an XLNG Pistol. As noted in the description of Autoweapon Skill (p. 17) the user of a weapon firing FA or AB must average that Skill with the one governing the use of that sizelshape of gun. Thus, firing a Pistol form SMG would require averaging Autoweapon and Pistol Skills. The use of a larger SMG, or an automatic Carbine or Rifle, averages the Rifle Skill with Autoweapon. Feature
Folding Stock
Many SMG and some other weapons have this Feature, a shoulder stock which can be removed or folded out of the way. When this stock is extended, the weapon is fired using Rifle Skill in combination with Autoweapon to derive the BCS. When the stock is folded up, the Skill used is Pistol.
AM MUNIT10N
In discussing the specifications of a gun, only two aspects of the ammunition it fires need be taken intoaccount: WHAT does the weapon fire, and HOW is it loaded? Further discussion of ammunition and its effect will be found in the section entitled Bullets and Ballistics (P. 34).
Double Action (DA): Found only in revolvers, as a rule; the

trigger pull also cocks the weapon and turns the cylinder to present the fresh cartridge for firing. Autoloading (AL): Also called Semi-Automatic. This type of weapon is often referred to as an Automatic, but this is a misnomer. An automatic weapon fires a continuous stream of bullets as long as the trigger is held down. See below for more details. The classic AL pistol is the Army Colt 45 M1911A1. In rifles, the M1 Garand of the WWll infantryman stands out in ones memory. Autoloaders carry their ammo in aspring-fedclip. When the gun fires, part of the force generated is channelled to throw the weapons bolt, ejecting the old cartridge. The clips spring then snaps a new one in place. Meanwhile, the bolt is recovering from the effects of the last shot, but instead of coming back to the fully closed position, it stops in the cocked position. All this takes mere fractions of a second, with the result that all the firer is aware of is that each time he pulls the trigger, the gun will fire. AUTOMATIC WEAPONS: As stated above, the term Automatic refers to weapons capable of fire which continues as long as the trigger is depressed. There are two forms of Automatic Gun Action found in Small Arms.
CALIBER
The question What does the gun fire relates to the particular cartridge it is designed to use as ammunition. Asa rule, if a gun is made to use one type of cartridge, it cannot fire any other round at all. Trying that will only get you an exploding weapon in your hands. Most unpleasant. Many people are aware that cartridges are measured by their Caliber. Most also know that Caliber is a measure of the bullets diameter either in inches or in millimeters. Giving things a bit of thought, it becomes apparent that a 45 Caliber slug cannot be 45 inches across, and the reason why it is properly written as .45 becomes clear. But what most people do not know, unless they are familiar with guns to some extent, is that there are about 3 different kinds of .45 Caliber ammunition in existence, none of which are interchangeable. Likewise, such arcane facts as the similarity between NATOs 7.62mm cartridge and the ,308 Winchester load (they are the same) are not in everybodys general body of knowledge. It is not enough to call a gun a 45. If one speaks of a45 Automatic, then it is a safe bet that the ammunition in question is .45 ACP (for Automatic Colt Pistol), the round designed by Colt Firearms for use with that weapon. But a 38 Revolver might load any one of several cartridges; which is the proper type of .38 caliber ammo? It must be clearly understood when describing a gun just what exact ammo it can use. BALL AND SHOT There are two types of Small Arms ammunition to be considered. The usual type referred to by such terms as cartridge or round is called Ball Ammunition. This is a metal bullet encased in a brass jacket, or case. But there is
Full Automatic (FA): The weapon fires Bursts of bullets,

instead of single rounds as non-automatic guns do. Such Bursts can be long or short, but generally Small Arms cannot be built durableenough toallow unlimited autofire. The longer a Burst is maintained, the greater the chance that the weapon will jam, as some element of its mechanism falls out of synch with the murderous rhythm of the discharge.
Auto-Burst (AB): The Autoburst feature is a recent

development in firearms design. Military doctrine has long maintained that the maximum efficiency of automatic fire
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another form of ammunition, equally common: the Shot Shell. Such shells are fired by Shotguns and contain either a single heavy slug or numerous small pellets of lead or steel shot enclosed in a paper or shell. The section of page 34 will describe the two forms of ammo. What is important to remember here is that Shotguns cannot fire Ball Ammo.
Box Magazine (Box): The true Clip. A small metal box,

holding a variable number of rounds. When reloading the weapon, the old clip is simply removed and a new one inserted. The first round must then be chambered manually, and the Gun Action takes over from there as described in Autoloader Action. This is the fastest reloading weapon in the system, but has the disadvantage that the clips are not usually interchangeable. That is, the clip from your Detonics Snub-Nosed 45 Autoloader will not serve to load your Colt Combat Commander, although both weapons are clip-fed autoloaders using 45 ACP ammo.
MAGAZINES
Magazine refers to the part of thegun in which theammo is carried for firing. In some firearms, this is an integral part of the weapons structure, In others, a removab1eclip is used. The particular type of magazine is very important in at least one common situation in Aftermath!: reloading an empty weapon in the middle of a fight.
Stripper Clip (Strip): Also known as the en bloc clip. The

best example of a Strip weapon is the M1 Garand rifle, which loads an 8 shot Stripper Clip of 30-06 ammo. Most Strip loading weapons eject the empty Stripper when the last round in it is fired. As with Box Magazines, the Stripper for weapon A will rarely fit weapon 6, even when Calibers and capacities are the same. In recording the magazine statistics on a given weapon, the capacity of the magazine must be noted. Most guns allow the option of carrying a round in the chamber. I.e., in an autoloading pistol with a 7 round clip, an eighth round may be carried already in the firing chamber, ready to fire. EUTthis may lead to accidental discharge of the weapon if it is dropped or struck! The Gamesmaster may apply his discretion in such matters. If the question arises, 1D6should be rolled. If the score rolled is greater than or equal to the guns DUR, it goes off. If the safety of the gun is on, add 1 to the effective DUR. An autoloading or automatic weapon which does NOT have a round in the chamber is not ready to fire. In such a case, the action must be worked once, manually, to chamber that first round and cock the weapon. Thereafter, fired rounds will provide the impetus needed to cycle the gun for its next shot.
INTEGRAL MAGAZINES
Also called Non-detachable magazines. These are all of a piece with the gun itself. Swing-out Cylinder (Swing-Cyl): Found only in revolvers. The cylinder swings out at the touch of a small release. Empty cases are ejected in the same motion. New rounds are loaded in by hand, or in a group if using a Quick Reload device, a small spring clip holding a full load of ammo. The cylinder is then snapped closed and the gun is ready to fire. Snap-out Cylinder (Snap-Cyl): Again found only in revolvers. Very similar to Swing-Cy1 weapons, except that the cylinder is remover completely, instead of swinging out on a non-detachable axle. Thus, it is possible to carry a spare cylinder already loaded, eliminating the need to reload rounds into the removed one. Portal Cylinder (Port-Cyl): Found only in replicas of Old West revolvers. The cylinder does not come out. Spent rounds are removed and new ones loaded through a small portal mounted to the right of the guns trigger. This is the slowest reloading revolver in the system. Portal Magazine (Port-Mag): Formally known as the NonDetachable Staggered Box Magazine. This is a standard magazine found in rifles that dont use clips. It is loaded through a small portal mounted under the gunstock, in front of the trigger guard. The usual capacity is5 rounds of standard ammo or 3 of Magnum ammo. Tubular Magazine (Tub-Mag): Similar to Port-Mag, but rounds are loaded in through a side port, being held in a long, tubular magazine mounted under the barrel. Almost exclusively found in lever-action weapons and Shotguns. Falling Block (Fall-Block): A breech-loading system found in many Single Shot pistols and rifles. A small lever rolls out the firing chamber, the round is inserted, the gun is closed, and is ready to fire. Break Loading (Break): Found mostly in Single Shot or Double Barrelled Shotguns, and in some Single Shot ball firing weapons. The gun is broken, hinged between stock and receiver, to open up and eject the spent casing. A new round is inserted, the gun is closed, and ready to fire. DETACHABLE MAGAZINES There are only two real types to consider. The box clip, described briefly in the outline of Autoloading Action, and the stripper clip, a metal or plastic spring enclosing the weapons load, which is inserted in one movement into the gun.
OTHER FACTORS
There are several miscellaneous factors in iirearms design under the headings of Durability and Features.
DURABILITY
This is an abstract figure from 1 to 5, expressing the weapons overall quality and strength of construction. It has many applications under the rules to follow. Under somecircumstances the weapons Durability (or DUR) may be reduced. When the DUR falls below 1, the weapon is in a state of Disrepair, and must be worked on by a Gunsmith under the proper circumstances if it is to function again. The general meaning of a DUR value can vary, reflecting the initial quality of craftsmanship that went into the gun, or conversely the lack thereof, or simply the shape it is in after years of hard use (or abuse). The base DUR score is like a characters DRT. While it may be reduced, the proper action will restore it. The Gamesmaster may exercise his discretion in decreeing that such damage be comes permanent if not tended to within a given time. DUR values as we see them may be categorized as follows: Broken. Gun will not work. Repairs required. Low-quality weapons, especially handguns. The cheap Saturday Night Special type of gun. Antique arms that have not been maintained well also fall into this category. Cheap weapons, or very much abused ones. Dime Store sporting arms, inexpensive replicas, massproduced pistols, again of the Saturday Night Special variety.
PA, Port-Mag Rifle
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Average quality for pistols, and for inexpensive but serviceable rifles and shotguns. 4 High quality sporting arms, older military weapons. 5 Custom made firearms, competition class handguns, and top-quality military weapons comprise this elite of the gun world. These are arbitrary guidelines and Gamesmasters expanding the gun inventory in their campaigns will have t o make judgement calls on the DUR in most cases. One possible rule-of-thumb is to base ones assigned Durability values on the market price o f the gun being used for the game model. But this can lead to low scores for well-made but inexpensive models, not uncommon in the firearms market. FEATURES Throughout this chapter, various devices which will enhance the use o f firearms are inserted under the heading of Features. Features are elements in the design of a weapon allowing better aim, faster fire, .more flexible use, etc. When a Feature directly affects the application of a rule, it is inserted following that rule in the text. A full list of Features, including some not found in the rest of the text, appears in Appendix 6.
The following Table gives the Range Steps for each class of firearm. There are six Range Steps to be considered in the system: Point Blank Range (PER) Short Range (SHT) Effective Range (EFF) Long Range (LNG) Extreme Range (EXT) Maximum Range (MAX) Also given are the Modifiers to the Basic Chance of Success and Bullet Damage Group for shots fired at these Ranges. Feature
Match Weapons A Feature available on some firearms will be Match quality.

These weapons are designed for use in international competition and have incredible accuracy. Weapons having this Feature add 50% to the distance defining their Range Steps. Eg., a Match Rated LNG Pistol will have the following Rage Steps: PBR 7.5, SHT 15, EFF 60, LNG 90, EXT 180, MAX 360. Match Weapons also have an Inherent Accuracy bonus of 1 in the hands of unskilled users(see p.31 for the Inherent Accuracy rules).
THE GUN RULES

Having established the basic qualities of firearms, we here give the specific rules governing their use in play. This includes those factors determined by the weapon itself and those depending on the human firing it.
RATE OF FIRE
The Rate of Fire is directly based on the Gun Action used. It defines the number ofshotsthat thecharacter may fireina single Action, as defined in Book 1 on p. 25. If a gun has a Rate of 1 Shot per Action and is being used by a character with an MNA of 3, he may fire up to3shots per CombatTurn, if all he does is fire the gun.
RANGE
Range is a function of the size and type of gun being used. The range to the target affects the firers chance to hit and the amage potential of the bullet.
Range Table Weapon

Pistols BBL : SNUB : SHT : STD : LNG : XLNG Long Guns Carbine Rifle Autofire Carbine Rifle SMG Shotguns Slug Load Shot Load Full Choke Modified Choke Open Choke Riot Gun BCS Modifiers
10 10
PBR
SHT 10 10 10 10 20 25 30 15 20 10
EFF 15 20 30
40 60
LNG 25 30 50 60 80 250 500 125 250 40
EXT
MAX 100 120 200 240 320 1000 2000 500 1000 160
2 4 5 5 5
50 60 100 120 160

500 1000 250 500 80
50 100 25 50 20
10 10 5
10
10 5 5 5 plus 1
20 25 20 10 10 plus 1
50 30 30 20 15 plus 0 plus 0
100 60 40 30
20
200 100 80 60 30 minus 2
400 150 120 90 50 minus 5
minus 1 minus 10%
BDG Modifiers plus 10 plus 0 To use the Range Table, simply note the range t o the target in meters on the combat display. Locate the Range Step under which this figure falls on the Table. This is the Range Step for that shot.
minus 25% minus 50%
Unless weapon is specified as having another barrel lenath.
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Gun Actions gnd Rates Gun Action Shots per Action
ss
SA BA LA PA DA AL FA AB
1 Shot and reload for next shot 1 Shot per Action 1 Shot per Action 1 Shot per Action 1 Shot per Action 1 or 2 Shots per Action. Firers choice 1, 2, or 3 Shots per Action. Firers choice Variable number of Bursts per Action 1, 2, or 3 Bursts* per Action
defined as Odd Shots. The first Odd Shot fired in a given Action is resolved on the last Action Phase, along with the Shot normally fired then. Separate BCS rolls are made for both of them, but their recoil effects will penalize both rolls. If there is a second Odd Shot, resolve it in this manner but on the middle Action Phase. If there is a third Odd Shot, resolve it on the first Action. Repeat this process until all Odd Shots have been given an Action Phaseon which they will be resolved.
OPTION Squeeze Off Shots

The tradition of the dead eye marksman includes the ability to slo-0-owly squeeze off shots, for significant increases in aim. The Gamesmaster may allow this to be done in the following manner. The firer takes TWO Actions to compete afiring routine. In effect, he doubles his PCA. For example, a character with an MNA of 2 and BAP of 10 has two Actions available per Combat Turn, with a PCA of 5. If he elects to squeeze off a routine of 3 Shots, firing semi-automatic, he will initiate the routine on Action Phase 10 and resolve his first Shot, resolve his second Shot on Phase 5, and his third on Action Phase 1. In other words, he will fire as i f his PCA were doubled, for a score of lo! Characters with an MNA of 1 must spread this option out over two Combat Turns. The real slowpokes, with an MNAof 0, would require 4 Combat Turns to squeeze off a firing routine. The character must be in Full Stance (see below) to Squeeze Off shots. Squeezing off your shots will add the Deftness score to the firers Skill Score with the weapon, If this increases the first 100 points only, the BCS to hit benefits. If the second 100 points of Skill are raised, the Location alteration is improved. If the bonus increases the Skill beyond 200, this is allowed, being reflected by greater-than-normal Location movement. Skill increase in the first 100 points does not improve Control die rolls! Two points to clarify in the above rules are: Shot: The term Shot refers to the normal discharge of the weapon. This may be a single Round, as with nonautomatic weapons, a Burst of rounds, when firing automatic, a blast of shot from a shotgun, or the beam from an energy weapon, i f your campaign uses such devices. Other meanings include rifle grenades, mortar shells, 40mm grenades from a launcher-in short, any projectile launched from a firearm.
In automatic fire, Bursts are fired rather than individual rounds as with, other Gun Actions. The majority of weapons fire Bursts of 3 rounds each. Some of the new super-automatic guns fire Bursts of 6. See Autofire rules below for details.
I
SHOT SPACING Firing a gun is an Action, and thus will consume a PCA as set down in the basic Combat rules. The exact Action Phase on which shots are resolved will depend on the firers PCA and the number of shots he is firing in that Action. Firing 1 Shot (or Burst): Firer will initiate Action on the first Action Phase of his PCA. The Shot is resolved (ie., a hit rolled for) on the middle Action Phase. The firer recovers from the shooting routine on the last Action Phase of the Action. Firer has 6AP of 10 and PCA of 5. His first act in the Combat Turn is firing a gun. He initiates Action on Action Phase 10. He resolves the Shot on Action Phase 8. He completes the routine on Action Phase 6.
Firing 2 S h o k F i r e r will initiate Action o n first Action Phase. He resolves first shot on his middle Action Phase. He resolves second Shot and ends the firing routineon his last Action Phase. Our example from above would open fire on Action Phase 10, resolve first Shot on Action Phase 8, resolve second Shot and end Action on Action Phase 6. Firing 3 ShotsrAction is initiated and first Shot is resolved on first Action Phase. Second shot is resolved on middle Action Phase. Third Shot is resolved and routineended on last Action Phase. The example character would resolve Shots on Action Phase 10, 8, and 6 if firing 3 Shots.
ODD SHOTS This rule is used when Firing more than 3 Shots. This can occur using FA Rate of Fire, or a non-automatic weapon equipped with the Hair Trigger Feature (see below). 0 Character is firing more Shots than he has PCA. Eg., a character with PCA of 2 firing 3 Shots from an Autoloading weapon. Shots may be left over in the spacing formula when all available Action Phases have been allocated. Such Shots are
MIDDLE Action Phase:There may be some confusion as to the exact Action Phase which falls in the middle of an Action. If the PCA is odd, the middle Action Phase falls directly in the center of the sequence. It is a number of phases into the PCA equal to PCAl2, up. If the PCA is even, the middle Action Phase falls in the Action a number of Action Phase equal to (PCA/2) plus 1. Thus, two characters start an action on Action Phase 10. The first has a PCA of 5, the other a PCA of 4. The first character will reach his middle Action Phase on Action
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Phase 8, since 5/2 equals 2.5 which rounds up t o 3. Counting from the phase of initiation, as is always done in Aftermath! combat, the sequence runs 10 (initiate)-9-8 (third Action Phase in the sequence)-7-6 (fifth Action Phase in sequence, thus ending the routine). For the second character, with the PCA of 4, the middle Action Phase falls on Action Phase 8 also, since (4/2) plus 1 equals 2 plus 1, or 3. The countdown is the same as for the first character. Feature Hair Triggers Hair Triggers are adjusted to allow ultra-rapid fire, with the mechanism of the Gun Action similarly treated for fast shot recycling. It increases the Rate of Fire by 1 Shot per Action. SS weapons do not have Hair Triggers.
the Optional Jamming Rule above is used, they may well cause the weapon t o jam.
DUDS AND JAMS

In the course of time, any gun will jam. In the world of haphazard weapon care and old ammo of Aftermath! this occurs more frequently than today. A"dud" bullet o r a jam will affect different Gun Actions in different ways. SS, SA, %A,LA, PA, and DA weapons: Treat "duds" (rounds that do not go off) as if the weapon had fired. In other words, the dud does not impede the weapons next shot. AL, FA, and AB weapons: Duds must be cleared manually, working the action by hand, which takes an Action. If firing FA or AB, a dud in mid-Burst aborts the rest of the Burst. The maximum number of Rounds in that Burst which can hit the target is the number that actually fired. When the weapon actually jams, it requires a full Action to clear it. Then treat weapon as if it had a dud. t.e., all Single Shot Actions, and DA weapons, can fire with no delay, but autoloading and automatic weapons must be manually chambered. Feature
AUTOFIRE
Full Automatic fire from small arms has several unique rules attached to it. In firing any other weapon, 1 Shot discharges 1 bullet (or charge of shot, if using a shotgun). Firing on automatic, a weapon will discharge aset number of Rounds per Burst. As stated, the usual number is 3 rounds. This has two major effects. First, the recoil of firing the weapon is equal to the number of Rounds per Burst times the ammo's base BOG. Second, the damage potential of the Burst will vary. A die of the typeappropriate to the number of Rounds per Burst is rolled, a D3 for a gun firing 3 per Burst, a D6 for weapons firing 6 per Burst. The indicated number of rounds will hit the target on the same location, adding their individual BOG to get the total. This can make even the lowpower slugs from some automatics quite lethal. Remember to deduct all the rounds in the Burst from the weapon's magazine load, even if all do not hit the target. Likewise, Recoil for Bursts is calculated on the basis of how many rounds are fired, not how many hit.
Autoextractor
This Feature is a small lever operating a plunger insidethe gun. It will allow jams to be cleared by the end of the Action in which they occur. It causes jams to be treated as if they were simply duds.
OPTION Full Automatic Jamming

When firing FA, there is no strict limit to the number Of Bursts which may be fired in an Action as such. The limit comes from the tendency of automatic weapons to jam during sustained fire. A single Burst can always be fired with no fear of this happening (hence the development of AutoBursts to circumvent the problem in later designs). But if more Bursts are fired in an Action, the chances mount rapidly. The tendency to jam is limited by the gun's Durability. If firing multiple Bursts, roll dice of the type appropriate to the Rounds per Burst for the gun, 1such die per DUR point. For a gun firing 3 Rounds per Burst, with a DUR of 3,3D3 would be rolled. The number rolled indicates the round which will jam after the first Burst. A score of 3 would indicate a jam on the third round of the second Burst fired that Action. If two Bursts were indeed fired, the second would jam. If the score had been 4, indicating a jam on the first round in the third Burst, and only two Bursts were actually fired, then no jam would occur.
RELOADING TIME
Digger popped his head up from behind the embankment. BLAM! Another ghoul hit the dust. From several locations, return fire kicked up dust as the cannibals tried to bag their "meat."Digger drew a bead on one of his hunters. CLICK! Click? Digger's continued career in Aftermath! has just become dependent on one vital question: can he reload his piece before the ghouls turn him into cold cuts? The time this is going to take depends on his native speedand the type of magazine his gun has. In any situation such as this, the first thing that must be asked is, does the character have more ammo, ready to load, in an accessible place? A glance at the rulesfor pawing through your backpack or pockets shows the unwisdom of storing spare loads there, unless you carry nothing but fresh cartridges in that locale. The wisest course is an ammo pouch, or bandolier, which will allow you to flip open the container and pull out your rounds without fumbling past all the other junk stored there. Once you have the cartridges ready to go- the rest depends on your gun.
OPTION Fumbling Bursts One of the problems with FA fire is that the firer needs to
exercise great control to stop shooting when he wants to. The high rate of fire may cause shots to be wasted. TO simulate this, the Gamesmaster may require those using FA to make a Deftness AST. If the Saving Throw fails, then roll a die appropriate to the Rounds per Burst, and the indicated number of extra rounds were fired. As such shots are not well-controlled by the firer, they will not hit any target, and if
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LOOSE ROUNDS If the weapon does not use a clip, stripper, or similar device allowing the new ammo to be placed inside in one mass, then the Loose Round Rule applies. In one Action, the character can handle a number of rounds equal t o his Deftness Group. This handling can consist of taking out a spent round or putting in a new one.
weapons requiring closing, the character may attempt to do so at once. This requires a Speed AST at a penalty equal to the number of rounds handled that Action. If made, the weapon is closed by the end of that Action. If failed, the weapon must be closed as the next Action.
OPTION Quick Chamber Rule

Likewise, in a weapon requiring chambering, thecharacter may attempt to do this in the Action in which the last round was reloaded. The same rules apply as those governing the Quick Close. If the Quick Close option has been used in that Action already by the character, a Speed CST is needed, at the same penalty as always for the number of rounds handled. This rule can also be used in the event of trying to properly align the cylinder on a partially reloaded revolver.
R ELOADlNG TIM ETABLES

The timetables for reloading the magazines described earlier are as follows:
Swing-Cy1 or Snap-Cyl:
1 Action to break open cylinder. Empties are ejected in same motion.
Load new rounds under Loose Round Rule. If using a Quick Reload Device or a spare, reloaded Snap-Cyl, then it requires only 1 Action to insert this.
1 Action to close cylinder, Gun is now ready to fire.
FIRING THE WEAPON

We have now developed a fairly comprehensive system for determining how guns work. Let us examine how they are used.
Port-cy1
Old rounds must be removed and new rounds loaded using Loose Round Rule. If weapon not fully reloaded, 1 Action required to be sure to get fresh cartridge under hammer for firing. Chance of blowing this and getting a spent round (ie.,adud) inthefirst position isthenumberof such rounds left in a gun or less on a D6.
WHO CAN FIRE A GUN?

As all character actions are controlled by the possession of the appropriateskills, you may besure thequestion will arise of what happens when someone with no Gun Skill picks up a firearm in combat, or moreconfusingly, how well acharacter who is a deadly Pistol shot handles a Rifle, when he has never fired one before in his (game) life. ANYONE can fire a gun which is in a Ready state, He may not be much of a shot, but he can use it in combat to some degree. Doing other things to the gun (reloading it, maintaining it, etc.) requires some knowledge of how it works, i.e., a score in the appropriate Skill; but even here, the characters common sense can replace acquired ability.
Port-Mag or Port-Tub
Load using Loose Round Rule. N o empties to worry about, as these have been ejected during firing.
Falling Block
1 Action to open Gun Action, ejecting empty casing.
1 Action to load new round in.
READY WEAPONS
A Ready weapon is defined as a gun which is: @Loaded,with a round in the chamber for firing, cocked, and with the safety off. In other words, if the trigger is pulled, the gun will fire. @In the firers hands, properly held for use. A character carrying a Rifle in one hand and a flashlight in the other does not have a Ready weapon, as he needs both hands to fire the gun. A Pistol that has just been used to conk a guard over the head is not being held ready to fire. Obviously, holstered or slung weapons are not ready. It will normally require 1 Action to ready such a weapon. If the gun is carried in a closed holster (strapped or buttoned down flap) or in any other kind of container, this must be opened and the gun found according to the normal rules for such activity.
1 Action to close weapon. Gun is now ready to fire.
Break
1 Action to open gun. Empties are ejected by this movement.
Load using Loose Round Rule.

1 Action to close gun. Gun is now ready to fire.
Box
1 Action to remove old magazine.
1 Action to insert fresh clip and chamber first round if this is desired at that time. If round not chambered during the reload, it will take a separate Action to do so later on.
Once first round is chambered, gun is ready to fire. Note: If it is necessary to reload the clip itself during Detailed Action Time, this is done using the Loose Round Rule.
OPTION Quick Draws

Pistols or Rifles can be drawn and fired in the same Action in certain cases. The former weapon must be in an open holster, or in the carriers belt. Long Guns cannot be drawn if they are slung over the carriers back or shoulder, but if they are being carried, the option may be tried. A Pistol can be Quick Drawn from a holster i f the user makes a Deftness AST. From the belt or waistband a CST is needed. The use of special, fast draw holsters will add a bonus to the score needed. The Gamesmaster may impose penalties if the circumstances warrant. Quick Draws with Long Guns require a Deftness CST. If the Fast Draw Saving Throw is made then a single shot may be fired at the end of the Action. All other modifiers apply and such shots are always assumed to be Hip Fire (see p. 31). The Gamesmaster may feel freeto introduceaQuick Draw Skill, if he finds it appropriate to his campaign. The use of the
Strip
1 Action to load in new Stripper (empty clip was ejected on last shot).
1 Action to chamber first round for firing.
Gun is ready to fire when round is chambered.
Note: Reloading the Stripper clip itself is handled thesame way as reloading empty Box clips: use the Loose Round Rule. OPTION Quick Close Rule
In the Action in which the last round is reloaded, with
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Skill instead of the Saving Throw would allow the weapon to be brought to the Present Stance, rather than Hip Fire. See the rules on Firing Stance for an explanation of this difference. HANDLING UNFAMILIAR WEAPONS There are two major points to deal with here: firing them, and minor operational points, lumped under the term servicing. As with any unfamiliar weapons form, the base BCS is derived from the users Combative Talent. This is used as an inherent Skill score, so that a character with a20 will have a BCS of 4 in any weapons form he tries to use. However, guns do a lot of the work for you in combat. Even a novice knows that if you point it at the target and pull the trigger, it will shoot at that target. Therefore, firearms have an Inherent Accuracy which is added to the Talent-based BCS of the inexperienced user. I t is based on the overall class of weapon and its BBL. If the users own BCS in the weapon, based on a Gun Skill, exceeds the score derived from his Combative Talent and the Inherent Accuracy, then it is used instead of that score. Inherent Accuracy is effective only for those who are NOT trained in using the weapon! As regards Servicing the weapon, when dealing with Small Arms, if the user is confronted with some simple act, say reloading the weapon, he must make a Wit CST to figure out what is needed, and all steps in the procedure take twice as long as normal. Say an unskilled character is trying to reload a Box magazine. It will be borne in upon him that it is empty when it refuses to fire. He must try t o make a Wit CST to figure out how t o reload it. He takes 1 Action per attempt, succeeding on his second try. At double the normal value, it will take 2 Actions to remove the old clip and 2 more to fumble in the new magazine. The Gamesmaster may modify these restrictions to fit the case. A well-trained Pistol user will probably know how to service a Rifle in most cases, but will still do so slowly. The rules on Servicing weapons apply to all characters who have less than 5 points (a BCS of 1) in the relevant Skill. FIRING STANCE There are three basicstances for use when firing. They are as much a matter of mental focus as of physical placement, being linked to the degree of concentration and control the firer is bringing to bear on his shot. The Stances are:
Weapon Used Pistol:
INHERENT ACCURACY TABLE Inherent Size Accuracy -1 SNUB

SHT STD LNG
+o
XLNG
Long Guns: Carbine Rifle Shotgun: Slug Shot
+ 1 + 2 +2 +3
+ 4
+ 3
+ 4
Autofire: Using a weapon for automatic fire reduces the Inherent Accuracy normally accorded the weapon by2. For each full Burst fired, add 1to the Inherent Accuracy. Match Weapons: I f the Feature is used, then Match Weapons add 1 to the normal Inherent Accuracy of the weapon.
Action to assume Full Stance, and the firer must refrain from shooting during this Action. He must be in Present Stance (see below) when starting the Action. Full Stance has the following advantages: 0 A plus 1 to the BCS is received.
0
Allows the use of certain modifiers (Sighting, Bracing Weapon, Squeeze Off, etc.) which are only allowed while in Stance.
Restrictions on Full Stance are: 0 Shots may only be fired out of the characters Front Hexes. No movement of any sort is permitted, including the Combat Move. 0 T h e firer may not speak, or otherwise concentrate on anything except his shot. Present Stance Any character who is not moving, is not Surprised, and has a Ready gun, may assume Present Stance at will. No modifiers apply to Present for good or ill, as it is assumed to be the basic firing position, neither below average like Hip Fire, nor above average like Full Stance. Advantages are: 0 Fire permitted out of Side Hexes as well as Front 0 Normal rules governing communication in Detailed Action Time apply Disadvantages are: 0 Only the Combat Move is permitted. 0 Certain modifiers requiring Full Stance are not allowed.
Full Stance: Or just Stance for convenience. The braced position allowing the firer maximum control of his aim. Present Stance: Also called Presented or just Present (as in Present Arms, not Birthday Present). The basic firing posture, allowing some freedom of movement. Hip Fire: A loose stance, allowing full movement, but lacking a good deal of control over the weapon.
In the main, characters can adopt any Stance they choose no matter what is going on, as long as they restrict their actions to those permitted that Stance. If, for example, a character is running down the street while firing, he can only be using Hip Fire, as only that Stance allows such movement. A character with a ready weapon who fires without announcing any special change in his Stance, is assumed to be in Present, as that is the best Stance for such shooting. Full Stance cannot be assumed without conscious effort and the Gamesmaster need not allow its benefits (or restrictions) to those who have not announced that they are using it. If a character has been using aStance, and then does something which is not permitted to that Stance, the Gamesmaster may automatically require that he adjust his Stance t o the optimum one permitting such action. Full Stance The firer assumes a posture as if he were firing on a target range, instead of in the middle of a hot firefight. It requires 1
Hip Fire As the name implies, the weapon is held low, braced against the body for support, rather than high ,,lough to allow even a minimal sighting technique to be used. Hip Fire is assumed when no other circumstances cover the conditions under which the gun is fired. Advantages of Hip Fire are: 0 Character may perform any movement: Walk, Run, Dodge, Change Position, you name it.
0
Fire is permitted out of any facing: Front, Side, or Reir.
Disadvantages are: 0 Use Average BCS to resolve Hip Fire shooting.

0
Further restrictions available to modifiers for firer.
WEAPON MODIFIERS Several of the weapon design factors discussed previously have direct bearing on the BCS when firing the weapon.
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Range
The Range Step affects the BCS as follows: PBR SHT EFF LNG EXT MAX Feature plus 2 to BCS plus 1 to BCS no effect on BCS minus 1 to BCS minus 2 to BCS minus 5 to BCS
Features Enhancing BCS

Among the features which may directly affect the BCS, we find: Tunable Guns: Certain firearms are designed to allow the user to tune the guns handling characteristics, stock length, balance, trigger pull, and so on, to conform to his optimum physical specifications. It requires a weeks study time, expending rounds as required for normal learning, but otherwise free of either hindrances or bonuses, to tune the gun. No Skill points are gained for this weeks study. Once the gun is tuned, it will add 1 to that users BCS, but will penalize other users by-1. I f someone else acquires the gun, he may retune it by the same process.
Telescopic Sights
The use of Telescopic Sights will serve to reduce the effective Range as far as its effects on BCS go. Effects on Bullet Damage Group are not modified. Simply divide the actual Rangeof sighted shots by the magnifying power of the scope. The resulting figure is the effective Range, used to determine the Range Step to be used.
HandedPistol Grips: Customized grips can be mounted on

Pistols, or in some models are included, which are specially formed to allow a very firm, comfortable, and precise hold on the gun. Such grips are handed, ie., shaped for the left or right hand specially. Using such a Pistol in the correct hand adds 1 to the BCS. Using such a Pistol in the wrong hand gives a -2 to the BCS.
Recoil
All cartridges are rated as to their Bullet Damage Group (BDG) and, besides indicated how much damage they can do to a target, this BDG also determines the recoil suffered by the firer. To measure the Recoil penalty (if any) proceed as follows: Take BDG/10, up. This is the Recoil base.
0
FIRER ACTIONS
The firer will often be in a position to improve or worsen his BCS by certain actions during his firing routine. Some of these are things the character must perform deliberately, others are natural by-products of specific events.
From this base, subtract either the characters Strength Group or his Location alteration score with that firearm, whichever is higher. If this sum is positive, subtract it from the firers BCS as a penalty. If it is negative, it has noeffect on the BCS one way or another.
Brace Weapon
The firer may assume a Brace with the weapon if he is in Full Stance. Both hands must be used, whether firing Pistol of Long Gun. With the former, both hands are used to hold the butt, as in standard police firing stance for handgun use. With a Long Gun, the Brace also requires that the weapon be equipped with a sling, or carrying strap. This is wrapped around the forearm of the hand supporting the forward gunstock, under the barrel. It requires 1 Action without firing to assume a Brace, and the firer must be in Full Stance before commencing the Action. Feature
If multiple rounds are fired in the same Action Phase, as occurs when firing Bursts or resolving Odd Shots, then the BDGs of all rounds fired in that Action Phase are added together for calculating Recoil, and all resolutions rolled that phase will be affected by any penalties accrued. Armed withe 45 ACP autoloading pistol, Marsha is pumping out 3 shots at a charging Master Rat. Her PCA is 2, starting o n Action Phase 3, so she will resolve her first shot on Action Phase 3, and her last two shots on Action Phase 2, under the Odd Shot Rule. 45 ACP has a BOG of 71, so its Recoil base is 2. Marsha has a Strength Group of 2, and is a good shot, with 2 points of Location in Pistol Skill. So either way, she can reduce Recoil by 2. Therefore, her first shot is at no penalty due to Recoil. On Action Phase 2, however, Marsha is resolving two shots, each with a BDG of 11. Thus, the Recoil base for her shots on Action Phase 2 is equal to 22/10, up. or 3. Subtracting her relevant scores, the differhnce is 1. Marsha gets -1 o n both of these shots fired on Action Phase 2, as she cannot completely control the bucking pistol. Feature
Swivel Sling
The sling on a Long Gun can be mounted with universally jointed swivels. These speed up the Bracing process so that it may be performed in the same Action as the one in which the firer assumes Full Stance.
Rest Weapon
The firer rests the weapon on a stable, horizontal surface. This surface must be at a level between the firers sternum (LOC6-7) and face (LOC2). The firer must be in Fu!l Stance but may not Brace the weapon if using the Rest option.
Firer Movement
It is generally agreed that firing a gun on the run is tricky! The rules reflect this. As stated in the rules on Firing Stance, Present Stance allows the firer to make only a 1 meter Combat Move during his firing Action. Any greater degree of movement automatically drops the firer into Hip Fire. The Gamesmaster should enforce this rigorously. Besides limiting Firing Stances, any movement reduces the BCS directly as follows: Combat Move (lm): -1 to BCS Walking: Use Hip Fire and -2 to BCS Running: Use Hip Fire and -4 to BCS Dodging: Use Hip Fire and double penalty for basic movement being used Changing Position: Kneeling down, standing up, hitting the deck, etc. A flat -10 to the BCS. If the move is being performed in 1 Action Phase, i.e., the character is doing so
Recoil Reduction
There are a variety of Features to be found in firearms which have the express purpose of reducing the effects of Recoil. On Long guns, the simplest form known is simply a pad, fitted to the butt of the stock. Other firearms use carefully crafted weighting in the barrel, special vents that release some of the force of the propellant explosion, and so on. Weapons equipped with Recoil Reduction other than a Pad will be noted as having 1, 2, or 3 factor. That is, they reduce the Recoil base by that number. Recoil Pads always reduce Recoil base by 1.
32
without taking an Action, the Gamesmaster may require him to avoid the Fall effects before allowing him to even try to shoot. Also, remember that the gun may be dropped if the faller is stunned, or may go off unintentionally if it was ready to fire. The question will arise regarding fire during an Action i n which the character is using different rates of speed. This is not easy to define completely and each group will, to some extent, have to work out its own conventions. According to ours, unless the character has started his Firing Action in Hip Fire, he is not allowed to make a move greater than 1 meter. I n Hip Fire, his BCS penalty for a given Action Phase of resolution is based on the highest rate of movement achieved in the Action up to that point. This prevents walking for 3 Action Phases, then stamina on the Dhaseof resolution .. to avoid the BCS penalty.
1
removes the lower body from the field of returning fire) and when firing down at a target and over some cover, such as the edge of a roof. Again, the Gamesmaster will modify the effects of Prone firing to reflect the angles of fire involved. The position used, standing, kneeling, or prone, has no direct effect on the BCS. It merely provides a means of maximizing the protection of available cover, which can effect the BCS. One H a n d n w o Hand-Offhand: There are several possible ways that the hand used to hold the gun, or the number of hands used, will affect play. Normal Pistol use requires only the gun hand to be free, unless the Brace Weapon modifier is being used by the character. If firing a Pistol with a BBL of the Pistol Carbine size, both hands are needed. Firing a Long Gun with one hand is not easy! For a Rifle or a full-sized shotgun, asling must beattached tothegun, which the character must wrap around the forearm of his firing hand. This takes 1 Action if his other hand is free to help. If it is not, a Deftness AST is required. Firing aTwo Handedlgun with only one hand will have the following effects:
0
If Slimy Sammy initiates a 3 Shot firing routine in Hip Fire, standing still for the first Action Phase, when he resolves his first Shot, he receives no special penalty. On the next Action Phase, he walks a meter, and does likewise on the Action Phase after that, when he resolves his second Shot. He has moved more than 1 meter, and is walking, so he takes a -2 to the BCS. Under a hail of returning fire, he breaks into a run for the next Action Phase, which continues into the last Action Phase in his Action, so that he fires that Shot at -4. Had he started dodging the bullets, his last shot would have suffered -8 (double the runningpenalty). Had he stopped for the last Action Phase, to return fire while standing still, he would still have suffered -2, since his fastest movement during the Actron was still a Walk.
Firing From Cover If the firer has grabbed some cover, and is trying to keep its protection while shooting, he may be presumed t o be somewhat distracted from making his best shot. Firing from Cover entails two types of restriction. First, a flat penalty to the BCS of -5. If the Gamesmaster wants to make this a sliding scale, the penalty may be (number of Locs covered)/6, down. On a more complex front, assuming Cover will dictate a number of restrictions to the firers activities: Firing over cover: The firer must be exposed from his sternum (Locs 6-7) to his Face (LOC2). If firing a Pistol, the whole of the Firing Arm is exposed. If firing a Long Gun, all of both Arms is exposed. Firing around cover: The side of the body holding the gun is exposed. This is all of the head and throat (Locs 1-3) and the leg and hip on that side (unless lower cover there offers protection). If firing a Pistol, only the Firing Arm and its side of the torso are exposed. If firing a Long Gun, both Arms and all of the chest and abdomen are exposed (Locs 4-7). h e e l i n g and prone position: A character standing behind a 1-meter wall is covered onlyfrom thegroin down (Locs 1220). If he kneels behind such a wall, he is covered to the sternum. The Gamesmaster must apply judgement to the exact levels of protection offered. He will find a Random Cover table in Book 3 on page 20. This will offer a sampling of the available cover to be found in a given area. Firing from a Kneeling position is principally of use in firing over some low cover while maximizing protection. Firing from a Prone position will expose the shooters head, neck, and chest (Locs 1-5),the Firing Arm(s), and anything else the Gamesmaster rules to be exposed, to the attackers angle of fire. It is generally worse than uspless against fire from superior height. Its primary purpose is for maximum protection in firing around corners (as it
Only Hip Fire may be used. A penalty to the BCS is suffered. This equals (2 x ENC of gun) rounding fractions up.
0 0
All recoil values are doubled

And if firing any weapon with the characters off-hand, the Off Hand Dexterity Rule is enforced!
Surprise and New Targets: While Surprised, characters can at best get off shots from Hip Fire. Only when they have had a chance to react to thesituation can they upgradetheir stance to Present. A similar situation will occur when a firer opens fire on a given target. It will require 1 Action to draw a bead on that target, although this may be done while firing, or changing Stance, or what have you. Put simply, for the first Action in which firer is concentrating on a given target, his BCA will get a -2. Thereafter, this penalty will vanish until the firer switches to another target, or loses contact with the old one. It is possible to draw a bead on a given spot, which will allow penalty-free fire at new targets entering that area. The Gamesmaster should requiresome exactness in such a case. One cannot draw a bead on a football stadium. One can do so on a door or window, a small area of floor, a manhole, etc. Sighted Fire: As stated, a character in Full Stance may take an Action to Sight his shot. This is possible on any gun having Iron Sights or other forms of sighting mechanism, but not on those without sights. Sighted Fire derives from any bonuses, Features, or Options inherent in the particular type of sights on the gun. Spraying Autofire: The Bursts of automatic weapons need not be directed solely at one target. The firer may spray, or hose down, an area, or split fire among multiple targets. The total number of hexesseparating his targets isadded up, including those containing figures. All figures in theaffected area are subject to fire. A separate BCS is rolled for each vulnerable figure. The BCS for each target is divided by the total number of hexes covered by the spray. Likewise, the BDG impacting a given target is divided by the number of hexes in the target area. It may be convenient for the Gamesmaster t o require that all targets of spraying fire be within a 20-meter area, and to adjudicate that spray fire may never hit more characters than the number of rounds that
33
were fired. On the positive side, the BCS penalty should be reduced in firing into a press, where characters are packed closely together. Luther is being charged by mad dogs from two doors, three meters apart. Assuming no other modifiers apply to his 6CS of 16, his spray attack will be resolved as follows: Total area covered is two meter-wide doors and 3 meters of intervening space. 5 meters. His BCS vs. the two Dogs is 1615,for an effective3 (round down). Their CDAs while charging will reduce this to less than 1 , to be resolved as described in Book 1 . By sheer good luck, he hits one of the Dogs! Rolling the number o f hits, he scores a 2. He is firing rounds with a BDG of 11, so the normal total that would affect the Dog is 22. Dividing this by 5, we get 4. His effective BDG against one mutt is only 4, probably only a wound. Meanwhile, the foaming jaws of the unscathed animal are snapping at his jugular! TARGET ACTIONS While the firer is doing his best to maximize his chance of hitting the targets, most targets (if of the fragile, organic kind) will be doing something to mess him up. Target Movement The movement rate of the target at the Action Phase when a shot is resolved will determine this modifier. It is always expressed as a multiple of the targets CDA, as follows:
0
BULLETS AND BALLISTICS

Having established a pretty extensive picture of how the gun gets its projectile to the target, let us know turn to the projectiles themselves: the ammunition. MODERN CARTRIDGES A cartridge, or round, is made up of the following components: Case: A brass cylinder. closed at the bottom, into which all the other parts fit snugly. Primer: The igniter for the main powder charge. A small amount of fulminating powder, i.e., powder which goesoff if struck. Charge: The charge of gunpowder which provides the propellant and gases for the shot. Slug: Also called the bullet. Theactual projectile fired from the gun. Shot shell differs somewhat in construction, although it is quite similar in most respects. The Case is of laminated cardboard or plastic. The Primer fulfills the same function as it does in Ball Ammo rounds, as does thecharge. Instead of a single slug, the Shot Shell will haveeithera massofshotor one very big rifled slug. The differences in Range and hitting power of these loads are discussed at theappropriate points throughout these rules. Shot Shell is measured not in Caliber, by inches or millimeters, but by Gauge, an antiquated measure dating from the days of muzzle-loading weapons. A 12-Gauge shotgun has a barrel of such dimensions that 12 lead ballsof the same diameter would weigh one pound. TYPES OF ROUNDS Specifications for cartridges vary widely according to size (Caliber), bullet weight and shape, type of primer used (Centerfire or Rimfire), etc. CALIBER This has been partially discussed on p. 25. I n discussing Caliber as a quality of the cartridge, the salient points to keep in mind are these:
0
Target not moving, in combat, or taking Combat Move: CDA x 1 Target Walking: CDA x 2 Target Running: CDA x 3 Target Dodging: Increase multiplier by 1 Target Falling (Changing Position Downwards): CDA x 3
0 0
0
0
Target Cover This does not often affect the BCS. Cover defends against gunfire by stopping bullets (one hopes). But there is a class of cover classified as Visual Cover. Visual Cover will effectively reduce the visual contact that the firer has with the target, with effects according to the prevailing light conditions. This type of cover is usually gotten from heavy brush, loose rubble, etc. It will rarely offer Barrier protection against bullets. What it does do is reduce the Light for the firer by a number of steps. These combine with prevailing visual conditions to determine the effective eye contact for the shot. For example, Visual Cover with a rating of 1 would have the same effect on a shot in Good Light as the firer would suffer in Dim Light. If it is dusk, when prevailing light is Dim, the Target is in Poor Light. And so on. The firer can offset this cover by making his Wit ST. If his die roll is in the AST range, it reduces the rating of the Visual Cover by 1. A CST reduces it by 2. A Critical Save negates it altogether. Targets moving in Visual Cover reduce its effect on their behalf by 1 per level of movement used (i.e., -1 for a Walk, -2 for a Run). Ifthey use Stealth successfully, this is negated. Target firing from Visual Cover will be spotted by any observer who makes a Wit AST on a DlO!
Caliber is measured in fractions of an inch (as in .45 ACP) or in millimeters (as in 7.62mm NATO). In general, the bigger the caliber, the more powerful the ammo. There are some notable exceptions, as you will see. Different rounds are not interchangeable! 38 Short is not the same as 38 Special. 9mm Short and 9mm Parabellum do not go into the same gun. Again, there are exceptions. Some weapons are specially designed to fire more than one type of ammo. Some ammo is used interchangeably between Pistols and Long Guns.
CENTERFIRE OR RIMFIRE The two forms of primer used in modern cartridges are: Rimfire: The primer is contained in a soft rim around the base of the casing. This is struck at the bottom of its circumference by the pin, igniting the primer which in turn sets off the main charge. Centerfire: The primer is contained in a small cap, in the center of the casings bottom. The firing pin on CF-loading guns is set to strike here. Rimfire ammo comprises the immensely popular .22 caliber ammo, generally low-power but the commonest single caliber in the world today. Not much of a manstopper, but you will find weapons loading the RF 22 in any sporting goods store. Rimfire ammo WILL interchange between Pistols and Long Guns, and many weapons are made to accept ANY RF 22 cartridge: Short, Long, Long Rifle, etc.
FN Rifle (FA)
34
Centerfire ammo is almost always more powerful than Rimfire. It is the standard round for hunting, police, and military weapons. Ranging from popgun loads for small Pistols up to the cannons used for big game, it is more versatile and certainly preferable in combat. Centerfire ammo can also be Reloaded. That is, used again. Cases can be cleaned, new charges and bullets inserted, and a new primer affixed, thus recycling theammo. This is not possible with Rimfire ammo.
MISSILE SPECIAL EFFECTS

The chance of Missle Special Effects occurring when a bullet hits the target is equal to the BDG of the round as a percentage. I.e., a round with BDG of 20 has a 20% chance of causing Missile Special Effects. The rules governing Special Effects are in Book 1. All BDG-based effects are subject to modifications which can raise or lower its effective value. See Ballistic Modifiers on page 36. The following Table gives the Base BDG of all the ammo used in Aftermath! It is divided into several headings: Centerfire Pistol Ammunition (CF Ball Ammo primarily used in Pistols), Centerfire Long Gun Ammunition, Rimfire Ammunition, and Shot Shell. You will note that the BDG for Shot Shells is given in a slightly different form than the Ball Ammo. The Gauge of the gun is cross-referenced with the size of Shot used in the shell. The figure on the matrix is the BDG in question. I.e., 00 Buckshot in a 12-Gauge Shell has a BDG of 32. The Slug figure is the BDG for a rifled shotgun Slug fired from a weapon of that Gauge. Shot Shell slugs are treated as any other Ball ammo. Caliber figures given that are just a number, like222,32-20, etc., are always to be read ds Caliber inches. Only calibers given as mm are metric. Note that some rounds are widely used both in Europe and in the US., being measured in caliber inches here and in millimeters there. There is no difference between the metric and American measured
BDG (BULLET DAMAGE GROUP)

All cartridges have a rating called their BDG. This defines that rounds damage potential in several specific areas:
DAMAGE CAPABILITY
The number of damage dice a round will do against the Armor Value of a struck target, and his DRT if it penetrates, is based on the BDG. The Damage Dice for a bullet strike are calculated as follows: number of D10 of Damage equals BDG/10, up. plus Damage Points equal BDG/10, nearest. Thus, a bullet with BDG of 33 would do 4D10 plus 3 to a character it hits. 33/10 equals 3.3. Rounded up, this equals4. Rounded to the nearest whole number, it is 3. With a BDG of 35 or more, 4D10 plus4 would be the bullets Damage roll, as 35/10 is 3.5, which rounds nearest to 4.
BASE BDG TABLE CENTERFIRE PISTOL AMMUNITION Caliber BDG

22 Jet 221 Fireball 25 ACP (6.35mm) 256Magnum 30 (7.65mm) 32 Short 32 Long 32 ACP 32-20 357 Magnum 9mm Parabellum 9rnm Short 38Long 38 Special 38 Short 380 ACP 38 SuperAuto 38-40 41 Magnum 44 Special 44 Magnum 44-40 45 Long Colt 45 ACP 4 8 1 10 6 2 4 5 3 11 5 2 5 10 2 5 6 4 16 6 21 6 6 11
CENTERFIRE LONG GUN AMMUNITION BDG Ca I iber

22 Jet 222 223 (5.56mm) 222 Magnum 22-250 243 6mm 25-06 25-20 25-35 250 256 Magnum 257 6.5mm Magnum 264 Magnum 270 280 284 7mrn Mauser 7mm Magnum 30 Carbine 30-30 30-06 30-40 Krag 300 Magnum 303 308 (7.62mm NATO) 32 Special 32 32-30 8mm Mauser 8mm Magnum 338 Magnum 35 350 Magnum 35 1 8 13 20 14 18 21 24 25 6 15 18 20 18 25 31 28 28 28 25 36 12 21 26 24 38 23 27 21 17 6 25 40 41 20 35 15
SHOT SHELL AMMUNITION Shot Shotgun Size Gauge 10 12 16

12-9 8-5 4-BB 12 16 20 10 14 18 8 12 18
20
6 10 16
.410
28
2 6 14
4 8 16
Buckshot
4-3 Buck 2-1 Buck 00 Buck Slug
*
22 28 36
x
18 24 32 27
18 22 30 23
18 20 x 17
x
x x
X
X X
These are very light, small shot pellets, often referred to as birdshot. Ony any target massing over 2 Enc, they do B type damage (half lethal, half subdual). * * Again, these are fairly light loads. At any range beyond SHT, they also do B damage. x Indicates that no Shot Shell of that type is made for the Gauge in question. Note that certain rounds appear o n both the Centerfire Pistol and Centerfire Long Gun Tables. The are: 22 Jet, 32-20, 38-40, 44-40, and 44 Magnum. These are identical rounds, but are widely popular both as Pistol and as Long Gun loads. They are entered on each Table for easy reference. Some Players may favor using weapons which all chamber the same Caliber BDG caliber, as such standardization can 375 45 offset some of the problems in maintain358 28 ing an ammo supply. 38-40 8 The Encumbrance of cartridges is also 44 Magnum 42 based on their Caliber. All Pistol ammo of 444 Marlin 36 30 or less, and all Rimfire ammo, has an 44-40 12 ENC value of .01. Other Pistol ammo (32 45-70 Govt 16 Caliber or larger), Long Gun Ammo, and 458 Magnum 51 Shot Shell, has an ENC value of .02. 460 Magnum 81
RIMFIRE AMMUNITION
22 Short 22 Auto 22 Long Rifle 22 Stinger 22 Long 22RFMagnum 5mm Magnum 1 2 4 6 2 6 5
rounds; they are identical e.g., ,308-inch and 7.62mm NATO are the same cartridge.
Feature
High-Power Firearms
These are simply firearms reinforced to allow use of High Power ammo without suffering the increased risk of a Critical Miss.
BALLISTIC MODIFIERS
The BDG values given in the Table are the base values. This is the inherent BDG of a given round and is subject to modification before an effective BDG is applied to the target. Ballistics, the study of projectile motion, is divided into three stages, which suit our needs here exactly. These are:
High-Power Shotshell: There is no danger of overloading a

shotgun. Shells are physically incapable of fitting into a magazineforanotherGaugeortypeofShel1,Thereare HighPower, or Magnum, Shot ShelkThese run3 inches in length rather than the normal 2.5 inches. Magnum Shot Shells are packed with more shot and more powder. They increase the base BDG by 50%.
Internal Ballistics: The study of ballistic
conditions pertaining from the moment the charge ignites until the bullet leaves the gun barrel. moment of leaving the barrel until a target is struck.
EXTERNAL BALLISTIC MODIFIERS

There are two factors which influence External Ballistics: Range and Barriers.
External Ballistics: The study of the bullets flight from the Terminal Ballistics: The study of ballistic conditions
,pertaining when the bullet hits the target.
At each stage of its flight, the bullet will be subject to different forces which may affect the BDG.
Range and BDG

The Range Step will raise or lower the BDG. This is the Range Step directly from the Table. Use of Sights to reduce Range for BCS purposes will not affect the ballistics of the shot. Match Weapons do enjoy their Range modification in this connection. Range modifiers to BDG are:
INTERNAL BALLISTIC MODIFIERS

The Base BDG is directly modified by Internal Ballistics. Only two factors come under this heading. One is due to the BBL of the gun. The other is obtained by using speciallymade cartridges.
PBR: plus 10 to effective BDG. SHT or EFF: No modifications to BDG. LNG: minus 10% to effective BDG. E X T minus 25% to effective BDG. MAX: minus 50% to effective BDG. Barriers and BDG
As specified in Book 1 , a bullet penetrating a Barrier will have its BDG reduced by the Barrier value of the material in question. This reduces the effective BDG.
BBL
Modify the base BDG as shown:
Pistol SNUB: reduce BDG by lo%, rounding to nearest. Pistol SHT or STD: No effect on BDG. Pistol LNG or XLNG: Increase BDG by lo%, nearest. Pistol Carbine or Carbine: The effect depends on the
BDG Table used. Pistol rounds fired from Carbines have a BDG increase of 50%, nearest. Long Gun rounds fired from Carbines suffer a 25% BDG loss to the figures from that Table.
TERMINAL BALLISTIC MODIFIERS

These factors control the effective BDG at the moment of impact. It is this final value which is used to determine damage and Special Effects. There are several factors based on the type of bullet used, and of course the effects of a Critical Hit will increase the effective BDG, often drastically.
Rifle: The BDG from the Long Gun Table is the Base BDG
for rounds fired from Rifles. The general formula for adapting Pistol Ammunition to firing from Long Guns, or Long Gun Ammunition tofire from weapons shorter than a Rifle, is:
0
0
Critical Hits
Apart from their other effects, Critical Hitswith a bullet will increase the effective BDG, varying by the type of weapon used: Firing Pistol: Add D10 to the BDG. Firing Long Gun: Add 2D10 to the BDG. Aufofire: All the shots in the Burst will hit their target, and their total BDG is increased as if a D3 more rounds impacted with them. E.g.,a Critical Hit is scored with a SMG firing 9mm Parabellum. These have a base BDG of 5. Fired from a Pistol XLNG,_thedefault BBL for SMG, they add lo%, for 5.5, or 6. The gun fires a Burst of 3 rounds. Thus, all 3 rounds hit, for an effective BDG of 18, and rolling a D3 for 2, 2 x 6 is added, or 12, for a total of 30, doing 3D10 plus 3.
Carbine BDG equals 1.5 x Pistol BDG Rifle BDG equals 2 x Pistol BDG Pistol BDG equals .5 x Long Gun BDG Carbine BDG equals ,751 x Long Gun BDG
Shotgun Ballistics: The only distinction is between a normal shotgun BBL and a riot gun, or sawed-off shotgun. This is handled as if the normal gun is the Rifle and the shorter one the Carbine, from the rules given just above. High-Power Ammo
Special ammunition exists, and is rather common in some cases, in which the powder charge has been increased to give the bullet a higher muzzlevelocity. Such ammo receives a 50% increase to the base BDG given on the table. The stress of firing this souped-up ammunition can be risky for the gun. The odds of a Critical Miss are increased by a number equal to 5 - DUR of weapon. In otherwords, firing a cheap pistol with DUR of 1 while using High-Power ammo increases the chance of a Critical Miss by 5 - 1, or 4. Thus, while a normal Critical Miss occurs on a die roll of 20 on the BCS roll, in this case the Miss occurs on a die roll of 20 - 4 (or 16), or higher!
Hollow-Point Bullets
These are specially-made bullets with hollowed, cupped, or flattened tips. There are also bullets designed to expand upon striking a target. All such bullets are designated as Hollow Points for convenience. The effective BDG for Hollow Points is not affected for purposes of determining damage, but when checking for Missile Special Effects, double the effective BDG to derive the percentage chance. When hitting a Barrier, the Barrier value is also doubled for the Hollow Point bullet. A 10-point Barrier would reduce the effective BDG of a Hollow Point by 20.
36
Jacketed Bullets
These are the direct opposites of Hollow Points. Coated with steel to allow maximum penetration, Jacketed rounds will suffer only half the Barrier value as a BDG reduction, but their chance of causing Special Effects is likewise halved.
OTHER FIREARMS
In previous sections we have dealt with the two main classes of Small Arms: those firing Ball Ammo and the shotguns. This covers about 80% of the weapons you will find in an average Aftermath! campaign. But it is not the whole ball game. There is considerable firepower, heavy firepower, available in the form of heavy machine guns, various gun-propelled grenades, mortars, and so on, which will be floating around a post-Ruin world. These are classified as Support Weapons in the Skill system. Moving back through time, we also have Black Powder firearms to consider. There are a lot of advantages to a gun which uses good old smokygunpowder, does not have many carefully crafted moving parts in it, and needs no fancy contained cartridges. Of course, your first shot had better count!
Fragmenting Bullets
The very latest in lethality. These nasty little slugs are designed to fragment on hitting a target, propelling several slivers of metal in an expanding pattern through the wound. The Special Effects probabilities of Fragmenting rounds are not altered. However, they will increase their Damage roll by a factor of 1.5. In effect, these bullets have a WDM of 1.5. Fragmenting rounds suffer the same, doubled Barrier effects as Hollow Points.
Shot Shell Ballistics

The ballistic behavior of a charge of shot, rather than a single bullet, is what makes shotguns unique. As the pellets travel further, they spread out, exposing a wider area to attack, albeit with reduced damage potential. The controlling factor in this slow spread is the Choke of the gun barrel. The tightest Choke is Full, and an Open Choke is the loosest. The Choke is a tube implanted in the end of the barrel, usually permanently, that chokes or compresses the stream of shot leaving the gun. LINE Out to the end of SHT Range, the shot is in Line. It is a tightly compact mass, affecting only 1 possible target, and acting like Ball Ammo for game purposes. SPREAD From EFF through LNG Range Steps, the shot pattern spreads out, affecting a front 3 meters wide. This front moves along the line of fire, and each hex of it will menace the first target in that line. Thus, a Spread pattern of shot could hit one target at EFF Range, and still attack two others out to LNG Range, if they were also i n the line of fire. Once the Attack has been resolved for a given hex of the Spread front, that particular hexs worth of shot is gone creating a sort of shadow. The BDG used against a target in one of these Spread hexes is the effective BDG of the Shot Shell divided by 3. LOOSE At EXT or MAX Range, the shot pattern is still moving in that 3-meter front, but has lost impetus and some of its pellets. Calculate theeffective BDG of theshot, and divide by 6 for the final BDG used on a target.
SUPPORT WEAPONS
The Gamesmaster will need to exercisediscretion in using Support Weapons in the campaign. When directed against Player-Characters, they will tend to lead to a new character design session at the end of the adventure. Used by PlayerCharacters, they tend to take a lot of the challenge out of combat (by slaughtering the opponents at a range of, say, 1000 meters). We do not provide the same extensive data on Support Weapons as we have for Small Arms. The models given here will serve as guides to the Gamesmaster in adding other specimens to his campaign, should he wish todoso. Many Support Weapons are capable of use against armored vehicles. For applications of firearms against vehicles, see the Vehicle rules starting on p. 57.
MACHINE GUNS
True Machine Guns differ from Sub-Machine Guns in several ways. They are not man-portable, requiring a mount of some kind (bipod, tripod, or vehicular). They are capable of sustained autofire, laying down a hail of bullets very effectively, even when the firer is spraying an area. They are deadly weapons in most tactical situations.
Light and Heavy MG

Machine Guns (abbreviated as MG) come in two sizes: Light (LMG) and Heavy (HMG). This is an overall measurement based on the Caliber of the MG and its ENC. The commonest MG calibers are: LMG: 30 Browning, 7.62 NATO, 5.56mm HMG: 7.62 x 39mm, 20mm, 40 or 50 Caliber The 7.62mm and 5.56mm rounds shown are the same as those listed in the Long Guns Ammunition Table.Theothers are used only in MGs. Their BDGs are:
Double Barreled Shotgun
MACHINE GUN AMMUNITION Caliber

30 Browning 7.62mm NATO 5.56mm
BDG
20 27 20
Caliber
7.62 x39mm 40 Cal. 50 Cal. 20mm
BDG
35 60 90 100
Shotgun blast with a riot gun
The ENC value of an MG is determined by its weight in kilograms divided by 10.
Using MGs:
The Autoweapon Skill is used alone (no averaging with anything) to fire Machine Guns. This extends to servicing the weapon, aim, and control rolls.
given, less than or equal to the guns stated Rate. Values lower than the Under 500 RpM may not be selected. The rounds fired in the Action will be as stated on the Table, even i f the effective Rate changes during the Action.
Select a Target Hex: A given point on the DAT Display must be declared a Target Hex by the gunner. To zero in
on theTarget Hex requires an Autoweapon BCS, subject to all relevant modifiers not due to Target Action. The gun is aimed at a space, not at any particular occupant of that space. The roll to hit the Target Hex is made on the first Action Phase of the gunners Action. A miss means his fire is not on target. He may try again on each Action Phase of his PCA, but his effective Rate Factor will drop 1 step per retry. He may continue to roll for the Target Hex until his PCA runs out, his Rate Factor drops below the minimum permissible level, or he Critically Misses, which will also have its usual nasty effects. He may opt to abort the attempt at any time, which will still require him to refrain from other action until his PCA runs out, but will cut the ammo costs for the Action in half.
Range
These are divided into LMG and HMG Range Steps
LMG HMG
PBR 50 50
SHT 125 250
EFF 250 500
LNG 500
1000
EXT 1000 2000
MAX 2000
4000
OPTION Tracers
The use of Tracers, bullets loaded with a flare powder which causes them to show a thin path of flame, will increase the BCS of the firer by 1 . Maximum efficiency suggested by military doctrine is achieved when every 10th round is Tracer. Less will not give the bonus. More will not increase it.
Rate of Fire
The MG can lay down heavy fire over an extended target area (thats what its for), Built to take punishment, it is capable of sustained fire without the jamming that plagues Sub-Machine Guns. All MGs have an assigned Rate of Fire, drawn from the Specifications of the real weapon. This determines the Machine Guns Rate Factor and the number of rounds it fires in 1 Action.
Declare Traverse: Once the Target Hex is hit, the gunner must declare if he is Traversing the MG, and if so, how
much Traverse he is using. Traversing means moving the gun barrel in an arc, to cover more area around the Target Hex. The gunner has a good deal of freedom in how to go about this. The basic Lethal Zone for an MG burst is a 1 x 3 meter area (1 hex wide by 3 long), centered on the Target Hex. The gunner may declare this basic Zone to consist of the Target Hex and any two contiguous hexes which are 180 degrees apart, so that the Lethal Zone is a line, 3 hexes long. This may lie at any angle to the line of fire and requires a Travers of 0 (ie., none). For every additional Traverse declared, the gunner may lay down a second Lethal Zone, also 1 x 3 hexes, either joining the end of a second Zone to the end of another (creating a line of hexes with a length increasing by multiples of 3),or widening an existing Zone by 1 hex in any direction, as long as all three hexes of the second Zone are contiguous with all three hexes of the other. Each additional Zone increases theTraverse by 1 . The Traverse equals the number of steps the effective Rate Factor is reduced.
Actual Rate in Rounds per Minute Rate Factor

Under 500 RpM D6 x .5
Rounds Fired per Action
500-750 RpM 751-1000 RpM

Over 1000 RpM
2D3 x .5 D10 x .5
2D5 x .5
20 30 40
50
The firer may elect to use any lower Rate he wishes, to conserve am munition. To determine the effects of a hit by an MG, calculate the effective BDG for 1 round of the ammo used, applying all relevant modif iers. Roll for damage based on the effective BDG. Roll the dice indicated by the Rate Factor. Multiply the two scores. This is the damage done by the hit. For Missile Special Effects, a number of rolls equal to the Rate Factor are made, using the effective BDG as the percentage chance. If the Rate Factor is fractional, the last such roll i s at half value. If any of these rolls succeed, the target suffers Special Effects. For example, a hit from a LMG firing 5.56 ammo at a rate of 400 RpM is suffered. The damage roll for the round (BDG of 20) is madeon 2D10, for a 12. The Rate Factor is 1 D6 x 5 .A 3 is rolled for a Rate Factor of 1.5. The damage potential of the hit is 12 x 1.5 or 18. Two rolls are made for Missile Special Effects. The first is at full value (20%) and the secohd at half (1O0/o). Various modifiers may increase or decrease the Rate Factors beyond the ranges on the Table. The progressions in question are: LOWER: D3 x 5 , D2 x 5 , 1 x .5
Hitting Targets: Any target in a Lethal Zone when the

Target Hex is hit, or any target entering a Zone during the term of the gunners Action, is exposed to an immediate attack by the gunner. i f this occurs, the gunner rolls an Autoweapon BCS, subject to all relevant modifiers (Range, Visual Conditions, and Target Actions), to see if he hits the target. If he does, damage is rolled as described above.
A character who leaves one Zone to enter another is subject to attack again. A vehicle subject to attack for entering a Zone which occupies two or more hexes simultaneously, is subject to a separate attack for each Zone occupied. A target traveling into 2 or more Zones in a single Action Phase is likewise subject to a separate attack in each Zone in quest ion.
HIGHER: D12 x 5 , 0 6 X .5, D20 x 5 , 2D10 x .5 2

Modification beyond the extremes given is not possible.
Zones of Fire TO fire a Machine Gun, the firer follows this procedure
MG Construction
As you may have gathered, Machine Guns are big, heavy, rugged weapons. But nothing is perfect and even the most durable weapon will tend to jam i f firing at MG rates for long periods. If the gun is fired for a consecutive series of Actions
Declare Rate of Fire: This may be any value from theTable
38
greater than its durability, it may jam. A rest of 1 Combat Turn will drop the tally back to 0, at any time.(l.e.,a weapon with DUR of 4 may be fired safelyfor4 Actions, then not fired for a full Combat Turn, etc., and will not jam unless a Critical Miss says it does). For every Action of firing after a rest is due, a D6 is rolled. If the die roll is greater than or equal to the DUR of the gun, it jams. Clear the jam as for any automatic Small Arms.
Magazines
Most Machine Guns, designed to fire from a fixed postion, with a two-man operating crew, do not limit their huge appetite for ammunition to simple clips or boxes. Ammo in long, linked belts feeds endlessly into the guns receiver. Belts are of the fabric or non-disintegrating type, or the metal, disintegrating link type. The former is a long canvas strip with loops for the cartridges. The latter is compsed of individual metal clips, hooked together, which are ejected from the gun singly as it fires. Both are re-usable. If it really is necessary to try to reload or rebuild a belt in Detailed Action Time, use the Loose Rounds Rule. In a looser time frame, allow a character to reload his DFT Group x MNA x 20 rounds into a belt in 1 minute. There are also various box magazines used on some lighter Machine Guns. Treat these as any other Box clip. Reloading prepared magazines or belts into an MG is handled under the Box magazine rules for Small Arms. In closing on Machine Guns, Appendix 1 of Book 3 includes a sample of some half-dozen current models, both U.S.-made and European. These should give the Gamesmaster enough help to add his own designs to the campaign.
OPTION Changeable Barrels The working life of a Machine Gun is limited by the barrel, which has a distressing tendency to warp under the tremendous heat generated by sustained fire. There are two ways to measure this operating lifespan. One deals with the immediate effects of overlong firing periods, and the other with the slow effects of even normal use. In the first case, it posits that the gunner has been firing well past the period requiring a rest to avoid possible jams. If the DUR roll has been made for a number of firing Actions equal to the DUR value of the gun, then a failed roll will indicate barrel warpage, instead of a simple jam. I.e.,an MG with a DUR of 4 has been fired for 8 consecutive Actions, without allowing a 1 Combat Turn rest. It has obviously had to make the DUR roll for the last 4 Actions, or it would have jammed. If this concentrated fire continues, and the DUR roll fails, the gun is kaput until a new barrel is mounted (an operation requiring 5 Actions if one has a new barrel handy). Over the long term; a Machine Gun can fire a total number of rounds equal to its DUR times the Roundsfired per Action at its maximum Rate times 100. For example, a Machine Gun with DUR of 4, a maximum RpM of 800, firing 40 rounds per Action, will have a minimum barrel life of 4 x 40 x 100 or 1600 rounds, or 400 Actions at maximum rate. This is probably too tedious to bother with unless it is desired to cut short the lifespan of an MG for some reason. As MGs are always fired from some kind of mount, it is impossi ble to either assume Full Stance or drop to Hip Fire. If the gun is not properly mounted, it cannot be used. If it is, the rules governing Present Stance always apply, although the gunner cannot exercise the Combat Move option, since he must be positioned behind the gun.
Initial Machine Gun Lethal Zone
MORTARS
Mortars are essentially big tubes, firing explosive shells in high, arcing trajectories (Indirect Fire) to drop onto a target area. The effects of Mortar Shells are given in the section on Explosives. A Mortar gives a shell afixed velocity. Aiming the weapon consists of angling the tube so that this velocity will propel the shell in an arc terminating at the desired point. Mortars range in size from man-portable weapons with roughly a 60mm diameter, up to wheel-mounted monsters, 120mm in diameter, requiring a vehicle or animal tow to move. All Mortars are fitted with a butt plate which restson theground, transmitting the recoil of the discharge directly to earth.
Encumbrance
There are three classes of Mortar: Light, Medium, and Heavy. Light and Medium Mortars will break down into three parts, Buttplate, Mount, and Tube, for man-carrying. Heavy Mortars will not.
~~A
Lt. Mortars: 60mm diameter. Tube ENC of 2. Mount ENC of 1. Buttplate ENC of 2. Total ENC assembled of 5. Shells ENC of 5.
Med. Mortars: 80mm diameter. Tube ENC of 4. Mount ENC

of 2. Buttplate ENC of 3. Total ENC assembled of 9. Shells ENC of .7.
Hvy. Mortars: 120 mm diameter. They do not break down for carrying. ENC of 12-16. Shells ENC of 1.
Range
Examples of MG Lethal Zones
Traverse 0
Traverse 1
Traverse 2
Mortars have a Minimum Range as well as a Maximum. The weapons angle of fire can be varied only so much from a given position. Firing (or trying to) at shorter ranges than minimum can be suicidal, putting the mortar crew inside the lethal zone of their shells explosions.
Lt. Mortar (60mm): Minimum Range: 75 meters. Maximum

Range: 1500 meters.
Med. Mortar (80mm): Minimum Range: 100 m. Maximum Range: 3000 m.

Hvy. Mortar (120mm): Minimum Range: 150 m. Maximum Range: 6000 m.
As Mortars use Indirect Fire, they may shoot over obstacles between them and the target. Maximum height of such obstacles may not exceed (Maximum Range- Rangeto Target)/20. Firing a Medium Mortar at a target 1200 meters
39
away allows fire over an obstacle (3000-1200)/20 equals 1800/20, or 90, meters high.
Firing the Mortar

A Mortar is best handled with a crew of three characters. Each will use his Mortar Skill to fulfill his function to the maximum of efficiency. Crew members are:
Shell. See the Explosives rules for a full description of this effect. At any time, the Gunner may spend his 2 Actions to lock on target. Thereafter, any Shells fired will land exactly where the shot before them did, until 1 Action is spent to unlock the adjusting mechanism.
Observer: Requires 1 Action t o sight in on Target. If not

equipped with optical gear (telescope, binoculars, etc.) capable of reducing effective Range from his position to target to 1000 meters or less, his BCS is halved. He must perform an Observe and Command Action after each shot, in order to try to use his BCS.
Critical Misses
If the Loader did not make his Control throw, a Critical Miss (indicated by a 20 on the Gunners BCS roll) is handled differently from Small Arms Criticals. A No Effect result means a dud Shell. It lands harmlessly in the indicated area. Any other result indicates a jammed Shell, lodged in the tube. This presents an effective Barrier value of 20 to attempts to remove it. Due to the awkward wedging of Shell in tube, a Strength CST is needed to try to extract it, rolling once per Action (only one character may work on the jam at one time). Only on a roll of 100 when checking Critical Miss effects does the Shell blow up in the tube, exposing the crew to a blast with its effects reduced by half. Even with this reduction such a result is usually lethal.
Gunner: Actually aims the Mortar. His BCS is used to

determine the location of the hit. It requires2 Actions to readjust the Mortars settings.
Loader: Loads in the Mortar Shell, which automatically

fires the weapon. His BCS is used to set shell for air burst, if desired. This increases the effective range of the Shells fragmentation pattern (see Explosives). I f BCS is made, Shell bursts in air. If not made, it bursts on the ground. It requires 1 Action to load the Mortar. The weapon fires at the end of the Action. The Loaders BCS is also used as a Control roll in the event of a Critical Miss on the Gunners BCS roll.
RIFLE GRENADES
Rifle Grenades are explosive projectiles designed t o be fired from a military rifle. Early models required special ammunition in the gun and bulky adapter mechanisms. Modern grenades dovetail with standard designs on most assault rifles and carbines to permit firing with no special operations required. The effects of Rifle Grenades on a target area are discussed in the Explosives section. What concerns us here is how the projectiles are fired. A characters BCS for firing Rifle Grenades is determined by averaging Rifle and Grenade Launcher Skills.
You will note that one man may operate a Mortar, as he may fulfill all three Crew functions, but his rate of fire will be much slower than a fully-trained Crews would be.
Hitting the Target

Mortar fire is directed at a Target Hex, like Machine Gun fire. Due to the nature of the Mortars ballistics, thefirst shots directed at a given target are penalized, slowly approaching an optimum as the Observers data is applied by the Gunner to bring Shells in on target. In deploying the Mortar to fire a shot, calculate the range from Mortar to target. The initial penalty is the difference between this range and either the Maximum or the Minimum Range for the Mortar, whichever isless. Dividethe difference by 100 and subtract that from the Gunners BCS. On subsequent shots at thesame target, the Observer will try to use his BCS to reduce this penalty. If he makes it, reduce the penalty by his Wit Group. If he fails, reduce the penalty by 1. If his BCS roll scores a Critical Hit, eliminate the entire penalty. If it is a Critical Miss, increase the penalty by (6-W it Group) . If the Mortar switches targets without altering its location, the penalty calculation is made anew. However, besides determining the difference between the new targets range, the Maximum, and the Minimum, the Gamesmaster should also determine the difference between the new targets range and the previous targets range. The new penalty is the least of these three possibilities. At the end of the Loaders Action, theGunner rolls his BCS to see where the Shell actually lands.
If BCS indicates a HIT: Determine Effect Number. Subtract this from penalty. If result is greater than 0, a precise hit has not occured. Multiply difference by roll of 2D10, determine a vector with a D6. Shell actuallyfell in indicated spot.The near miss maydoquiteaswellasadirect hit,this being in the nature of high explosive fragmentation shells.
Types of Rifle Grenades

We may break this down into severalsub-categories. First, what is the propulsion system? There are two types: Ballistite and Live Ammo. They may be fired with an adapter or by a launcher. BALLISTITE grenades require that a special, blank cartridge be chambered into the gun, usually necessitating the removal of the weapons normal clip. This triggers the launching charge in the grenade. Ballistite rounds are thus cumbersome to use, but give the grenades designed to take them more range than the grenades launched using live ammo. LIVE AMMO grenades require no special round for launching. The guns normal load of Ball Ammo is sufficient to send them their merry way. They lack the range of Ballistite models. ADAPTER grenades require that a special adapter mechanism be fitted t o the gun. It is useless for normal fire while so configured. It is rare to find such grenades in modern weaponry. The two models used in Aftermath! are the US Army M-1 and M-14 Rifle Grenades, made for the famous weapons of WWll and Korea. They are exclusively Ballistite-launched weapons. 22mm LAUNCHER grenades are the modern form of the weapon. Almost all military riflesand carbinesdesigned after 1960 have a 22mm Grenade Launcher built into the flash hider. This is an integral part of the gun. Any 22mm Rifle Grenade can be launched from a gun with this Feature. Some of the 22mm grenades use Ballistite, others Live Ammo. Other than these operational questions, it will be necessary to keep track of what the grenades function is. The commonest classes are: HEAP: H i g h Explosive Anti-Personnel. Powerful fragmentation grenades, like super hand grenades. HEAT: Hiqh Explosive Anti-Tank. T i m e d with shaped charges, these are used as infantry Support Weapons against armored vehicles.
If BCS indicates a MISS: Subtract effective BCS from score

rolled. Add penalty (if any left). Multiply by roll of 2D10 as indicated above, determining direction with a D6. Again, a near miss may do the job quite satisfactorily, painful though this may be to the purist of mass destruction. On a Critical Hit, the Shell lands exactly on the target. The Gunner has his choice of an Air Burst or normal hit for the
40
W P White Phosphorus incendiary grenades. The effects of WP weapons are described in Book 3, along with other
incendiary weaponry.
Grenade Ranges
This varies among Ballistite-fired, Adapter-fired, and Live Ammo types.
GRENADE TYPE PBR Adapter 20-30 22mm Ballistite 20-30 22mm Live Ammo 20-30 SHT 50 75 50 EFF 75 100 100 LNG EX1 MAX 100 200 300
300 250 500 400 700 650
Note: Point Blank Range (PBR) for RifleGrenades is rated as starting at 20 meters. This is because Rifle Grenades are
fitted with safety devices which do not arm the grenade until it has traveled 20 meters from its firing point. Thus, shots at targets closer than 20 meters are not possible.
The first is an integral part of an assault rifle, slung under the gun barrel. When using this type, the BCS is determined by averaging Grenede Launcher and Rifle scores. Next we have a completely separate launcher, looking like a stubby shotgun. Such Grenade Launchers are usually fitted with shoulder stocks, but are fired using only the Grenade Launcher Skill. The last type of launcher is a pistol-grip affair, but may be either fired mounted to an assault rifle or used on its own, albeit requiring two hands to steady. This last is the most modern design. Also to be considered are those new launchers which carry a clip of 40mm grenadesfor a slow version of semi-automatic fire. The vast run of Grenade Launchers are single-shot weapons. They operate as Break Action weapons for reloading purposes. The clip-fed Grenade Launchers carry a Box magazine of 4 grenades, firing 1 shot per Action.
Types of Grenades
Any 40mm Launcher will accomodate any 40mm grenade. The specific effects of the projectiles are described elsewhere, but in general terms they are:
Hitting the Target

As with Mortars, the Rifle Grenade is aimed at a specific area, not an individual target, With a less pronounced arc of fire, they are not as difficult to aim, using the averaged scores in Rifle and Grenade Launcher Skills t o derive the BCS. Shots are resolved as with normal gun fire, but a / /fire is from presented stance, and every shot is subject to a -2 penalty to cover the lower general accuracy of the Rifle Grenade. Note that a Critical Miss on this shot does not mean that the grenade is faulty. It is handled as for any firearm and refers to the rifles performance, not the grenades. Treat No Effect results as dud rounds. When the firer recovers from the Critical effect, i f the gun is ready to fire, he may try to launch the grenade again. In the event of a normal miss, the Gamesmaster determines the result as with Mortar fire. Thus, close enough can be more than sufficient. In the event of a Critical Hit, the firer may choose to make the grenade hit an Air Burst, with effects as described in the Explosives rules.
HEAP: As Rifle Grenades. This is essentially a Hand

Grenade. See the Explosives section.
WP: White Phosphorus. See Fire Weapons section CANISTER: A close combat round, essentially using the
Launcher as a giant shotgun, firing a mass of fragments. See the Explosives section.
GAS: A gas shell is fired, which explodes in contact with

the ground. See Gas rules in Book 3. The Tear Gas launchers used by police are generally 40mm Launchers.
Grenade Launcher Ranges

The Grenade Launcher is a limited weapon, compared to the mighty Mortars or lordly Rifle Grenades. It can put any of its loads except Canister out to distances as follows: PBR: 20-30 meters SHT: 50 meters EFF: 75 meters LNG: 125 meters EXT: 250 meters MAX: 500 meters Canisters hideous effect is limited to about a 30-meter maximum as described under Explosives.
Rifle Grenade Timetable

The handling of the Rifle Grenade is cumbersome at best. The following Manual of Arms lists the steps required to load and fire such a projectile in order. Simply delete the steps that do not relate to the type of grenade being used t o derive the particular timetable for you. The procedure is:
1 Action to clear magazine for Ballistite round. 1 Action to mount 22mm Grenade or 2 Actions to mount Adapter device. 1 Action to mount Adapter grenade. 1 Action to load Ballistite round. 1 Action to prepare to fire. 1 Action to fire. 1 Action to remove Adapter device.
Firing the Launcher

The appropriate Skill or averaged Skill is used. Treat this as Rifle Grenade use in all respects.
BLACK POWDER FIREARMS

From the heights of modern firepower, we now turn back to an altogether earlier form of weapon: the Black Powder or Muzzle-Loading weapon. While this class takes in every firearm from the early Renaissance to the late 19th century, we will confine our study to two of the most recent models: the flintlock and its more modern successor, the percussion cap firearm. The Muzzle Loader is a very straightforward gun. A long, usually smoothbored barrel is solidly strapped to the gunstock, almost completely closed at the back end except for a small hole connecting to a priming pan. In the flintlock, this pan holds a small amount of loose gunpowder (Primer). In a percussion model, this has been replaced by anipple over which a Percussion Cap is fitted. The explosive in this cap goes off on impact from the hammer, flashing a spark into the main powder charge in the gun barrel. BANG! The Muzzle Loader recreates a giant model of the compact, self-contained cartridge of today. First, if recently fired, the barrel is swabbed, cleaning the remains of old
Reloading another grenade would pick up at the Mount Grenade Action. Switching the rifle back to normal configuration requires the same number of steps it took to prepare the gun in the first place, plus however long it takes t o reload, if a ballistite grenade was used.
GRENADE LAUNCHER
Unlike the Rifle Grenade, which is to an extent an attempt to turn rifles into Support Weapons, Grenade Launchers are special weapons designed to toss a 40mm projectile for a limited distance.
Types of Launchers
40mm Grenade Launchers come in three configurations.
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charges out. A new charge is then inserted and rammed in, packing it tightly. The bullet is then wrapped in a wad, and dropped in on top of the charge. Another wad is rammed tightly over it all, to seal the powder in and confine its burn, so as to build up the pressures needed t o fire the weapon. The gun is now loaded. Theprimer charge or percussion cap is now placed on the pan, and the gun is cocked. It is not ready to fire, if nothing goes wrong.
ENCUMBRANCE
Unquestionably, the old firearms bulk more than the sleek killers of today. In the absence of hard data on actual weights, assume standard Encumbrances for the weapons of .4 for all Pistols and 1.5 for all Long Guns.
MUZZLE LOADING TIMETABLE

The following Manual of Arms gives the Actions involved in preparing to fire a Muzzle Loader. If weapon has been fired already, 1 Action to swab. 1 Action to load in charge. (3 Actions if charge is not, premeasured) . 1 Action to ram charge in tightly.
1 Action to wrap bullet in a wad.
1 Action to ram bullet into barrel.
le
BLACK POWDER B D G
The BDG for a bullet from a Muzzle Loader is dependent on the Powder Charge and the Caliber. The powder loaded into the gun is measured in Drams (of which there are24to the ounce). The Caliber is, of course, in fractions of an inch. The base BDG for a given load in the gun is equal to 10 x (Charge in Drams) x (Caliber in inches). This is the BDG from Long Guns. Pistols halve this just as they do in modern guns. Please remember that the Caliber value must be in fractions of an inch. For a 45 Caliber weapon, usepoint45 as a factor-45flOOths of an inch! This is used as the base BCS, subject to all the usual Ballistic modifiers.
1 Action to wad the whole thing.
1 Action to put rammer away (it may be dropped, of course). 1 Action to prepare primer or percussion cap.
1 Action to prime with a Cap or 2 Actions to prime with loose Powder.
ABOUT POWDER CHARGES

It is unsafe just to stuff gunpowder into the gun until it is a veritable cannon. The upper limit on the number of charges is the Durability of the weapon. For every Dram over this limit that is loaded, increase the chance of a Critical Miss by 1. I.e., in a DUR-4 gun with 4 Drams of powder in the charge, the chance of a Critical Miss is on a natural die roll of 20, as always. Load 5 Drams in, and the Critical Miss occurs on a die roll of 19-20. Load in 6 Drams, and the chance is on a roll of 18-20; and so on. OPTION Charge Loading Rule If desired, the Actions spent in loading a Charge can vary according to the size of the Charge. The maximum number of Drams that cah be loaded in 1Action is the users Deftness Group. The use of pre-packaged paper cartridges allows the loading a 1 Cartridge in 1 Action, but only one such Cartridge may be in the gun at a time. A Cartridge contains a premeasured Charge and a prewrapped Bullet. bullet.
1 Action to cock. The gun is now, finally, ready to fire!!!
MUZZLE LOADER WEAPON SPECS

As with most firearms. these come in Pistol and Long Gun models. They are by no means as finicky about Caliber as their modern descendants, but still limit the sizeof Bullet that may be used within about a .05-inch range. We will be doing this marvelous class of weapon little justice in this abbreviated view, but will take the following Calibers in both sizes as the standard Aftermath! models: 45, 50, 65, 70. Due to the low muzzle velocity achieved by Black Powder fire, large slugs were the order of the day to achieve adequate stopping power with the one shot usually allowed hunter or soldier with these weapons.
Black Powder Ranges

The ranges are set by the overall size LNG PBR SHT EFF Pistol 5 10 15 30 Long Gun 10 20 50 100
I
of the gun.
EXT
60 150
MAX
90 200
FLASHES IN THE PAN

Apart from the omnipresent danger of a Critical Miss, the Primer presents a question when firing Muzzle Loaders. Will it go off and trigger the main Charge? Using loose powder as a primer gives a base 1 in 10 chance of a misfire. Add the roll of 1D6 to this if it is raining, and increase by 1D6 for every minute that the gun is out in the wet. Also, if the primer has not been changed in the last few hours, the Gamesmaster should feel free to roll 1D3 for an addition to this penalty. Percussion Caps do not care if it is wet, or how long they are on the pan before firing.They haveaflat 1 in 20chanceof misfiring, subject to no adds under most circumstances.
Feature Rifled Barrels It was not until the 17th century that someone noticed that spinning projectiles hit harder and fly truer than those that do not spin. The way to get bullets to do this was by rifling the gun barrel, incising grooves in a long spiral along the inside to impart this spin to the projectile as it rushed u p the tube. Rifled gun barrels increase the range steps of the weapon by 50%, just as Match Quality weapons do with modern guns.
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EXPLOSIVES
This Section deals with chemical explosives: dynamite, plastic explosive, blasting powders, and the weapons made from them: hand or rifle grenades, mortar shells, mines, etc. We do not discuss atomic explosives (Gamesmasters will find some ideas on nukes in Book 3, but frankly, theyre not our thing). These rules govern the use of explosives in two roles: antipersonnel (i.e. against characters) and demolition (i.e. against the Barrier valueof structures). The useof explosives against Vehicles is specifically outlined at the end of the section. floor in a second Fall after he has bounced off the obstacle. See p. 32 in Book 1 for Fall effects.
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All cnaldcters exposed to Blast suffer Subdual Damage to their whole system (Le., no Location is rolled for). They reduce this damaqe by their Average AV. The amount of Subdual Damage equals 2 x effective Blast. Blast may deafen characters with unprotected ears. The base chance of this occurring for a character is 2% x effective Blast. If this DlOO roll indicates Deafening, thecharacter must make a Health CST. Failure to make the Saving Throw will deafen the victim for (50CombatTurns- Health Score). If Deafening affects a character already suffering such a result, the indicated time is added to the period he will remain deaf. Jose spun around as a hissing, sparking something crashed through the window. A bundle of dynamite delivered by Air Mail, a present from his pursuers! He dove for the sputtering package of death, but a hail of rifle fire from outside drove him away from the windows line o f sight. Desperately, he ran for the door, sickly aware that he would be too late. Suddenly, the world seemed to turn into a volcano, a nova, a thundering chaos of noise and pain. A giant bludgeon slammed into Joses body, and everything went dark. The above scene illustrates the effects of Blast o n a character. Jose is some 10 meters away from a threestick bundle of TNT. Each stick has a Blast o f 10, fora total of 30. The effective Blast is thus 30 (the rated value of the explosive) minus 10 (Joses distance in meters from the explosion) for a total of 20. First, Jose is hit by a Stopping Effect of 20. His Mass is about 5 , so the effect number is 2015, or 4. This will toss him 203 meters away from the explosions location, and requires a Deftness AST i f he is to avoid a knockdown. Unfortunately, Jose got close enough to the door that the Blast will pitch him into it. The Gamesmaster rolled a 5 for the distance of the Stopping knock-back. Jose was only 2 meters from the door (so near, yet so far). He slams info the door as i f he had fallen 5 meters. He rolls for Fall effects. There are none. He now rolls his Speed AST to stay o n his feet after the Stopping Effect. He makes it! OK Jose! However, the Blast also does Jose twice its effective value in Subdual Damage. This is 40 points (for an effective Blast of 20) and Jose is only in an Average A V of 4, for a total of 36. The poor slob must try to resist System Shock ( i f the whopping concussion has not simply blown his damage total past his DRT). Joses system evinces its disgust at these outrages by refusing to succeed at a Health AST, and he goes down for the count. The only good thing about all this is that any Deafening results from the Blast will have worn off by the time Jose comes to.
RATING EXPLOSIVES
All explosive materials generate a concussion effect when detonated. This is called Blast. It is effective against both characters and Barriers. Most explosive weapons will produce a fragmentation effect as well. This is called Frag (for Fragmentation). It is produced by sheathing an explosive charge with a metal or plastic jacket, which is smashed into shards by the force of the explosion andhurled outwards like a hail of bullets. In codifying explosives or explosive weapons, the format NAME BLASTjFRAG is used. NAME is the name of the material or the weapon. BLAST is its Blast rating. FRAG is its Frag rating. An explosive will almost always produce Blast, but not necessarily Frag. Thus, an entry like TNT 10 is assumed to mean a charge of TNT, or Dynamite, with a Blast of 10, but n o Frag. The entry Hand Grenade 5/5 would indicate a grenade with a Blast of 5 and a Frag of 5. There are some exotic exceptions (see Claymore Mines later in this section), but they represent special cases.
BLAST EFFECTS
These operate on two fronts: against characters in range, and against structures and items either deliberately or incidentally exposed to significant Blast ratings.
BLAST VS. CHARACTERS The base Blast rating of an explosion determines the
maximum range at which it can affect a character. For every meter of distance between the center of the explosion (the hex in which it takes place) and the character, reduce the effective Blast by 1.
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All characters exposed to Blast suffer a Stopping Effect, as described in Missile Special Effects in Book 1. with a force equal to the effective Blast. This figure is divided by their personal Mass to derive the Effect Number of the Stopping Effect. Among other things, this Effect will hurl the character away from the center of the explosion for the indicated number of meters. I f his path is blocked by a solid obstacle, before he has moved the indicated distance, then he will suffer a Fall result, hitting the obstacle as if he had fallen onto it from a height equal to the distance rolled for the Stopping Effect. Immediate check is made for Fall results. Should he survive these, he will usually have to save against falling down due to the Stopping Effect. This is carried out normally. Thus, a Blast can slap a character up against an object, simulating a Fall, and/or drop him to the
DEFENSES AGAINST BLAST

Hard cover is good protection against Blast. If it is beyond the Blasts ability to knock down (see Demolition rules following) it will protect the character against all but the Deafening attack. It had better be solid, though, or the character may find himself buried under his cover.
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If the character can put a 90 degree corner between himself and the explosion, the Blast will be cut in half. Each such turn halves the effective Blast yet again.
Crazy Isaiah bellows, Seek Ye the Justice o f the Lord, SINNERS! and tosses a grenade down the corridor. Being crazy does not mean hes stupid, so Isaiah ducks back around a corner. The grenade goes off with a base Blast of 10. The blast front travels down the corridor to Isaiahs turnoff. I t has an effective Blast o f 6. But to Isaiah, flattened against the wall around that corner, the effective Blast is reduced to 3. Certain forms of Integral Armor (Military and Police suits, protective coveralls for Disaster workers, racing drivers, etc.) will provide a protection called Blast Buffering. When the wearer of Blast Buffered armor is hit by an explosive effect, the effective Blast is reduced by the value assigned to this Blast Buffering. Character actions will not overly affect Blast. Hitting the Deck (changing position by the end of the Action Phase in which the explosion goes off) will serve to reduce the effective Blast by the characters CDA. He may expose himself to Fall results if he does not take a full Action to get down, of course. Characters trying this maneuver in the same Action Phase as the detonation must make a Speed AST to get the defensive bonus from it. Soft Cover can also soak up some Blast, usually giving up the ghost in the process. Heavy draperies, piles of cloth, mattresses, loose boxes, etc., can reduce Blast for those sheltering behind them. The Gamesmaster will often have to assign some arbitrary value (roll 1D3 if you need a good range) to such protections. And, of course, hurling your own body (or someoneelses) across the explosive before it goes off to drastically reduce Blast (for everyone else). The base Blast used in this case is divided by the Mass plus Average AV of the hero on top of it. But he will suffer twice the base Blast rating with no reductions, both as a Stopping Effect and in calculating the Subdual Damage. For example, jumping on top of a Grenade 10/5,the sacrifice character takes a Stopping Effect Number of 20, and 40 points of Subdual Damage. The Frag effect will probably finish him off, but that is discussed later. His armor and mass do not reduce this damage. Using inanimate objects (mattresses, spare corpses, tarps, etc.) in this manner will only subtract their value from the base Blast rating (Yes, self-sacrificing heroes get a bonus toward saving their comrades).
DEMOLITION SKILL
The Demolition Skill described in part in the Skills section 1 will simultaneously enhance the destructive power of a charge in a controlled manner (i.e., vs. the desired target only) and at thesame time reduce its Blast effects on the area around the obstacle. When a charge is set to knock over a Barrier, it will receive a multiplier to the effective Blast against that Barriers value.
Unskilled Use
The character has not used Demolition Skill to set the charge. Just plopping a bundle of TNT down by a door falls into this category. The Blast directed at the Barrier is equal to the effective Blast multiplied by a factor equal to the roll on a D3 times .5. Rocco runs up to a door, finds i t locked, and being in a hurry, decides to blow i t down. He arms a hand grenade with a Blast of 10, drops i t by the obstruction, and runs like a bandit for cover. KA-BLAM! The grenade had rolled about 1 meter away, so the effective Blast for the door is 9. Rolling a 03,the Gamesmaster gets a 2. Thus, 2 x .5equals 1, so the doortakes9points o f damage to its Barrier value. Even assuming i t to be a flimsy wooden door with only 15 points to start with, i t remains in place, leaving Roccos path still obstructed.
Skilled Use
Under normal circumstances, small-scale demolition (i.e. doors, portions of walls, locked areas, rubble, etc.) requires 10 minutes work to properly set the charge when using Demolition Skill. The Gamesmaster may require the possession of certain tools, such as drills, picks, shovels, or what have you, to make holes into which the explosives will be placed. Working without such tools will reduce the effective BCS for the Demolition worker. Also recall that the character must average his Demolition Skill with the Explosives Skill appropriate to the type of material being worked with. Explosives on the Table below are divided by the Skills governing their manufacture and use. If the Demolition user makes his BCS (rolled when he triggers the charge) then the multiplier for Blast will be his Wit Group Effect Die roll but he will at least get to roll a 03, should he be afflicted with a Wit Group of 1. If the BCS fails, then use the die roll specified for Unskilled use. A Critical Hit increases the effective Group by 1. A Critical Miss indicates a bum charge, doing only half the base Blast value to the Barrier as damage. Skilled Demolition work also can reduce backblast from a charge. This is simply the normal Blast effect occurring on the characters side of whatever he is trying to blow up. If the BCS is made, the base Blast for determining the effects on characters in range is divided by the Demolition workers Effect Number. Roll a separate BCS for this, also at the time the charge is triggered.
DEMOLITION
Any structure or object exposed to a good-sized Blast is not going to benefit by it. But this can be glossed over by the Gamesmaster in normal play, when the bombs are flying for anti-personnel reasons, rather than working out the effects on every stick of furniture in the room. The Gamesmaster may destroy items in close range by fiat, and likewise decree any minor architectural changes wrought o n the surroundings. Light doors, windows, etc., will probably go away. Heavier features will probably survive. If there is too much indiscriminate use of explosives in tottering buildings, the site of the explosions can conveniently be made to cave in, the chance in 20 being equal to the Base Blast Rating minus the buildings Structural Stability rating, that the room in question has just dropped its ceiling in. However, controlled use of explosives to demolish an particular barrier or structure is another thing entirely. While any dolt can charge up to a door, lay an armed grenade by it, and run like blazes for cover, it is not automatically going to remove the door for him.
OVERKILL
I t is desirable to havesome ideaof just how much Barrier is being faced when setting a demolition charge. If the base Blast of the charge is more than twice the value of the Barrier, any Blast in excess of twice the Barrier value is called Overkill. Overkill may do just a bit more damage than anticipated. It is difficult to give more than guidelines in how to handle this situation. All we can do is illustrate the way several particular cases might go, as asignpost to other solutionsfor the Gamesmaster.
0
Demolishing a doorway, wall, or other interior feature of a building: The amount of Overkill in the base Blast Factor is the chance in 20 of collapsing the roof of the room or building, for a radius around the center of the explosion equal to the base Blast rating (all of it) divided by the Structural Stability of the building. Only the Gamesmaster is
44
likely to know what the Stability actually is (from 1 to 10, with 1 meaning nearly gutted, 10 meaning no structural weakness). Using a charge with Blast of 50 t o open a 20Barrier-point door leaves an Overkill of 10. There is a 10 in 20 chance of bad results. The Gamesmaster rolls a 6 on a D20, indicating problems, and announces that the doorway previously closed by the door is now blocked by the room from upstairs (a 50-meter radius turned out to be more than enough, as the building had a stability of only3, for a 16-meter collapsed area).
0
FRAGMENTATION EFFECTS
Fragmentation is a purely anti-personnel effect, measured by a Frag rating. This number determines the damage potential of a Frag hit in the same way that BDG does for a buIIet. Frag rating is equal to thenumber of DlOof Lethal Damage done by a hit. A bonus is added to this die roll equal to the Frag rating. Thus, a Frag 5 weapon will do 5010 plus 5 in Lethal Damage when it hits. As with bullets a fragment may get Missile Special Effects when it hits. The effective chance of this is 10% x Frag rating. A hit from a Frag 5 weapon has a 50% chance of causing Missile Special Effects. Note: the effects of a single explosive will only get one Stopping Effect on a given target. The Stopping Effect for a fragment hit isnot applied tothosewho have taken Stopping from the Blast. When a character is within the range of a weapon's Frag effect, the Gamesmaster will roll a BCS for the fragment to see if it hits him. Normally, only one such attack is made on a target per explosion.
Opening a safe, vault, or lockbox: The Overkill will directly attack the Barrier (or whatever) of every item in the container. This will certainly destroy any papers, machinery, electronic gear, or what have you. There is a percent chance equal to the Overkill that the container will simply be pulverized by the confined fury of the Blast. Blowing up a large section of ground: There is no real risk here unless working with an unstable formation (liketrying to clear a blocked cave mouth). The Overkill result would be an avalanche proportionate to the magnitude of the overage.
FRAGMENTATION RANGES
The base Range for fragmentation effects is determined by adding the Blast and Fragmentation ratings of theexplosive. The specific ranges derived from this figure and their effects are as follows: Primarv Zone: Base Ranae/?, down. Fragments havekCS of 16.
It is t o be hoped that these limited examples will be helpful to the Gamesmaster faced with adjudicating the outcome of overenthusiastic use of explosives.
Burst Range of a U.S. Mk. 8

Defensive Gren
Secondary Zone: Base Range

Fragments have BCS of 12.
uter Zone: Base Range x 2. Fragments have BCS of 10.
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Thus, if a Grenade 5/5 goes off, it has a Base Range of 5 plus 5, or 10. Its Primary Zone is 5 meters. Targets within that radius of the explosion must avoid a BCS of 16 tododge fragments. Its Secondary Zone is between 5 and 10 meters. The BCS for fragments here is 12. The Outer Zone extends from 10 to 20 meters. Fragments here have a BCS of 10. All fragments have a Fragmentation rating of 5 .
operation of the latter. All of the materials given here fall into two categories:
Industrial Explosives: Materials manufactured under fairly

controlled conditions using a Lab. This class includes Dynamite, Plastique, and Blasting Powder.
Home-Cooked Explosives: Materials which can be made in

any situation providing the necessary equipment and ingredients. Many of these can be and are manufactured more copiously or more efficiently under Industrial conditions. Others are purely improvisational but effective for all that.
CRITICAL EFFECTS O F FRAG HITS

A Critical Hit by a Fragmentation weapon indicates that two fragments have hit the target. Roll location separately. Treat like simultaneous hits by bullets. A Critical Miss on the Frag BCS (not the weapons users BCS) negates any other attacks the fragments have coming. If this occurs on the first such BCS roll, the weapon was a dud. It is thus advisable to roll for targets exposed to Frag effects in order of their nearness to the center of the explosion.
EXPLOSIVES TABLE Blast Name of Material

Simple Explosives: Dynamite (or TNT) Nitroglycerine Nitrocellulose (Guncotton) Black Powder (Gunpowder) Ammonium Nitrate Complex Explosives: Plastique Blasting Powder Mercury Fulminate
Rating
Charge
Size 1 stick 1 deciliter (about 3 fl. 02.) 1 kg 1 kg 1 kg
A grenade exposes AI, Charley, and Bob to Frag effects. A I is closest, then Bob, and Charley is farthest from the explosions center. The BCS roll against A I is made first, and hits him. The roll against Bob is a 20, a Critical Miss. Therefore, no roll is made against Charley.
10 15 10 5 5
DEFENSE AGAINST FRAGMENTS

Defense from fragments is similar to that from bullets. But the target movement does not enhance the CDA. Cover is handled the same, and hitting the deck will double the CDA. When a fragment hit is indicated, it will attack only one Location, and must overcome the Armor Value to do damage. The exception occurs when the explosion is in a confined space, such that the area is smaller than the weapons Outer Zone. All those in the area will be attacked twice (Le., two BCS rolls are made for fragment hits). Treat as separate attacks. Diving onto the Grenade (or whatever) is enshrined in the heroic literature of modern combat. When someone pulls this stunt (Instant Medal of Honor in military slang), he is almost certainly dooming himself to save others. Such a character will take the full force of the grenades Fragmentation rating, none of it traveling past his body. He will take double the damage rolled for the hit and defend against it with his Average AV. If the Gamesmaster wishes an alternate system, assume that a Critical Frag hit is sustained, treating it as a Critical bullet hit. Still use the Average AV for defense.
Varies 1 kg 15 1 kg See Primers
BLAST RATINGS
In general, if 1 unit of explosive produces a Blast of X, then 2 units produce a Blast of 2X.
Plastic Exploslves
The Table ascribes a variable Blast to Plastic Explosive (or Plastique, as it is also known). This form of explosive is, after Dynamite, the most common Industrial Explosive used today. It is found in engineering and mining applications as well as military and intelligence uses. A given formula of Plastique is codified as Plastique X , where X is the Blast rating for 1 kg of explosive. Plastique 20 indicates a type of Plastic Explosive with a Blast of 20 for a 1 kg charge. To find out how much Plastique will produce a Blast of 1, divide 1000 by the Blast per Kilo figure, yielding an amount in grams. Plastique 20 will produce a Blast of 1 per (1000/20) grams. There is no absolute limit to the maximum rating for Plastique. Assume that the heftiest formula around runs to about Plastique 100, in explosives designed for military or intelligence use. This is the approximate strength used in such terrorist ploys as letter bombs, where a standard charge runs to about 500 grams (about 1 pound).
AIR BURSTS
Air Bursts, the detonation of Mortar Shells, Rifle Grenades, Artillery Shells, etc., at a given height above the ground, will double the Base Range of Fragmentation effects. The Blast is treated normally, so that in general, an Air Burst sacrifices this effect for more penetrating fragment dispersal. To determine the height of an Air Burst, the Gamesmaster will roll 2D10, add 5 meters to the result, and get the height in meters of the explosions center.
DESCRIPTION OF EXPLOSIVES FROM TABLE Dynarnife

Also called TNT. Nitroglycerine is soaked up by sticks of charcoal to produce dynamite. Unlike Nitre, this form of explosive is quite stable. It can be burned, hit with a hammer, even fired into without detonating. Only afulminating primer (see below) will set it off. Dynamite stored where it can be exposed to extremes of temperature can sweat out the Nitroglycerine, coating the sticks with pure crystals of this substance. Such degraded TNT is very unstable, reacting likethe Nitro described below.
CONFINED BURSTS
When the explosion of a fragmentation weapon occurs in an area which is smaller than the Outer Zone of the Fragmentation Range, then all characters exposed to it will be attacked by two fragments instead of one. Roll BCS separately for each such attack, using the BCS for the characters range from the explosions center.
Nifroglycerlne
This compound is the basis for other materials in the list: dynamite, nitrocellulose. In the pure form it is shockingly easy to make and equally easy to detonate. Nitroglycerine, or Nitro, is an oily liquid obtained by heating glycerine, nitric acid, and other chemicals. Once manufactured, it remains potent, even if dried out into crystals.
EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS & FUSES

We will separate the discussion .of explosives and explosive weapons, since the former provide the basis for the
4&
Nitro will explode if exposed to .extreme heat, open flame, or electrical spark .any significant shock, jolt, or impact .excessive vibrations, or even the shock waves of a loud noise In other words, look at it cross-eyedand it will gooff. Rules governing these factors are hard to formulate completely, but here are some examples.
Black Powder
Good old gunpowder. Made (as almost everyone knows) from charcoal, sulphur, and saltpeter. I t is important to note that Black Powder must be tightly confined to generate a Blast. If just poured over something and touched off, there will be a flare, and you might :tart a fire, but there will be no explosion. Black Powder will ignite if exposed to heat, open flame, or electric spark. Impact does not affect it. If you have some of this material, you can also use it to charge a muzzle-loading firearm, but not to make bullets. Ammonium Nltrate A simple chemical treatment with a substance so common we are not really sure we should mention it will turn any ammoniated nitrate fertilizer into a very efficient explosive. The fertilizer is sold in 25 kg sacks, which should be soaked in kerosene (kerosene is not the correct material) and allowed to dry. Use of a fulmiating primer (see below) will set it off. Extreme heat will cause it t o ignite and burn, but not explosively. It is otherwise completely stable. Plastlque The Blast on Plastiquevaries as stated above. Note that the formulae used to make it in the lab may be different for Plastiques of different strengths. Plastique is portable, malleable, completely stable (it will not detonate unless a proper primer is used), and resistant to water, temperature changes, etc. It is potentially the ideal explosive for almost applications in Aftermath! Most military explosive weapons (grenades, mines, HE shells) use a Plastique charge for their explosive component. Blasting Powder This is simply the smokeless gunpowder used in modern ammunition, acting in explosives exactly as Black Powder does. If you want to figure the amount of Blasting Powder you can get out of your cartridges, figure the average round of Ball Ammo or Shot Shell will yield about 1 gram.
I f carrying Nitro, movement must be limited to a BMA of .5. Faster rates require a Deftness Saving Throw. For movement at a normal walk (BMA of l ) , roll a Deftness AST each Combat Turn. Roll a CST each Combat Turn in which movement over a Walk was used, no matter how briefly. Dropping the Nitro, Falling, Changing Position, or Jumping will set it off (Gamesmaster may allow a Deftness CST if he is feeling charitable). Weapon hits against the carrier will probably detonate his lethal burden. Gunfire or other loud noises within a meter of Nitro will have a 10% chance of setting it off unless it is packed for safety. Carrying the Nitro in a vehicle allows a maximum safe speed of 10 kph on a good road, and half that on rougher surfaces. If driving faster, a Driving BCS is required. Divide 600 by the speed i n kph to determine the number of Combat Turns between BCS rolls. Any accident will detonate the Nitro. Rapid acceleration or braking should probably require a separate Driving BCS, before recalculating the time between rolls for the new speed. Any Explosives Skill user can package Nitro for safe carrying. This, of course, will require packing materials and a container of some sort. The package has a Safety Factor equal to his Effect Number on the roll. If the package is exposed to any stimulus capable of detonating the Nitro, it has a Saving Throw equal to this Safety Factor. If the roll is made, then no explosion occurs. It requires 1 hour to package the Nitro safely.
Nltrocellulose Also known as Guncotton. This is simply cellulose (plant fibers, cotton) which has soaked up a batch of nitroglycerine (1 kg of fiber will absorb 1 deciliter of Nitro). Wadded into a mass, it will serve as an explosive in its own right. In strips or ropes, it is a fast-burning fuse. Guncotton will ignite if exposed to heat, open flame, or high impact (hitting it with a heavy hammer will do fine, or the Blast from another explosive, with an effective rating of 1 or more). Guncotton holds the Nitro i n a more stable configuration than the pure chemical. It is generally immune to the dangers of undesired detonation that make pure Nitroglycerine such an uncomfortable companion.
PRIMERS
The most efficient way to detonate any charge is by exposing it simultaneously to extreme heat and high impact. In other words, it takes a small boom to make a big BOOM. The standard means of achieving this is by using Primers, also called Blasting Caps. The Primer is also known as a Fulminating Primer, indicating that it blows up in a gout of flame, and also referring to the material that gives the Primer this quality: Mercury Fulminate. This highly volatile substancewill go off if exposed to heat, pressure, impact, electrical current, or flame. A Primer generates a Blast of 1, sufficient to trigger any explosive on the Table when the unit is in contact with the main charge. Fulminate also releases a burst of intense flame, level 4 as fire is rated in the basic rules in Book 1, to trigger explosives with more control. Primers can be attached to the end of a stick of dynamite, or a bundle of sticks (maximum of 12 sticks per primer). They can be imbedded in a lump of Plastique, dangled in a flask of Nitro, or just shoved into containers of Powder or Guncotton. They will detonate by one of three methods: . a fuse laid to the Primer and lit .an electrical signal from a remote trigger (which may be wired to the Primer or radio controlled) . timing mechanism of some kind, or other trigger device a as described in the Booby Trap section These all presuppose that some obliging and expendable type cannot be prevailed upon to go up and hit the primer hard with a hammer. A compressed wad of Guncotton can be called into service
47
as a Primer, but it requires a special Demolition BCS to set this up, and if that fails, the charge will automatically suffer a Critical Miss when triggered, with the reduced Blast efficiency described above.
FUSES & TIMERS

A good-quality fuse is simply a length of stiff cord or celluloid impregnated with gunpowder, leading from some place of safety to the charges Primer. You light it, it burns at a preset speed, reaches the Primer, and voila! Instant explosion. Fuses and other forms of triggering devices operate as follows:
Cordite: This is the commonest form of the classic,

burning fuse. Simply connect one end to the Primer, or insert it into the charge if using an explosive that goes off in the presence of flame, and light it. Cordite is rated in terms of how many meters it will burn in 1 Combat Turn. For example, a 1-meter length of Cordite 1, lit on Action Phase 5 of a Combat Turn, will burn totheend by Action Phase5ofthenextCombatTurn If such data is needed, assume a BAP equivalent of 20 for all Cordites. Thus, to have a piece of Cordite 1 lit on Action Phase 5 go off on Action Phase 1 of that same Combat Turn, a length of .25 meters must be used. 5 Action Phases of burning time is one quarter of the 20 Phases in a full Combat Turn of burning, and that full Turn will burn 1 meter, so use a fourth of that meter, ergo .25 (or 25 centimeters). In other words, 1 divided by the Cordite rating is the number of Combat Turns required to burn a meter of the fuse. 20 times that figure (l/Rating) is the number of Action Phases which will elapse between lighting the fuse and detonation, assuming a BAP of 20 if more than one Combat Turn is involved. High-tech versions of Cordite exist which require no oxygen to burn (impregnated with self-sustaining combustibles) or can function underwater (magnesiumbased fuses). Also, ultra-fast-burning fuses, such as Cordtex, which would be rated as Cordite 100, exist. The standard types of Cordite are rated from about .5 to 20. Guncotton as a fuse is the rough equivalent to Cordite50.
Electrical timers are accurate to the second. They consist of a small timer, a clock if you will, and a battery leading to a Primer, either built into the device or part of a constructed charge. The classic electrical timer is the alarm clock with two wires connected to it: one at the hour desired for detonation, the other to the hour hand. The hand reaches the designated spot, the wires connect, closing a circuit between a battery and the primer, and BOOM! The clockface timers cannot be set more than 12 hours in advance unless using a 24-hour clock. The other, more modern form of electric timer uses a settable, elapsed time fuse. It is usually good for up to 24 hours. After the designated time has passed, it simply releases current into the primer.
EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS
The subject here is specifically such goodies as Hand Grenades, Rifle- or Launcher-fired Grenades, Mines, and so on. It does not seem necessary to discuss such simple do-ityourself efforts as a bundle of TNT with a fuse of the right length attached. These are the military firecrackers, usually using both Blast and Frag to spread death from the point of the explosion.
HAND GRENADES
These are meant to be lobbed at the enemy by hand, using Combat Throwing or raw Deftness to get the bomb there. The models used in Aftermath! are:
Grenade US Mk.1 US Mk.6 US Mk.7 Defensive US Mk.8 Offensive

Concussion
Blast 5
10 10 5 15
Frag
5 5 10 2 0
Electrical Igniters: A small heating element, which will go to red heat in a fraction of a second, is placed in contact with the Primer, or with heat-sensitive explosives. I f current is fed into the igniter, the charge is detonated. This may be done via a direct wire connection to a battery case (the E-5 or better is needed when calibrating this to Aftermath! battery types, or a packet of 5 E-1 batteries), or by using a specially made radio control. In the latter case, a battery must be attached to the receiver of the setup, placed at the site of the charge. It consumes 5 charges of electricity to trigger the primer. Timers: There are two standard types: chemical and
electrical. Chemical timers simply release a slow acid through a thin metal capsule to trigger a Primer built into the timing fuse. They are not very accurate, being set for a given period (a chemical times set for 10 Combat Turns, i.e. 1 minute, will only be good for a 1 minutesetting), and having a 10% error margin either way. The Gamesmaster should roll a D30. Scoring 1-10 indicates the percentage of time to subtract from the timers setting. A score of 1120 means no error is present: timing will be exact. A roll of 21-30 will increase the timing by a percentage equal to the die roll minus 20. Therefore, a roll of 25 would add 5% to the set time. The minimum time on a chemical timer is 1 Combat Turn, and is used on such things as hand grenades. The maximum practical time for a chemical timer is about 1 hour.
The use of grenades is fairly obvious: you throw it, it blows up. The grenades listed are all standard US Army models, current from WWI, in the case of the Mk.1 (the famous Pineapple), to the close-combat Defensive grenades developed for Viet Nam. All Hand Grenades have a 1 Combat Turn chemical timer for a fuse. This is armed when the Pin is pulled and the Spoon is released. The former is a small Pin which locks an arming handle, or Spoon, in place on the grenade. When the Pin is removed, releasing the grip on the grenade by throwing it lets the Spoon fly off, arming the fuse. Of course, one can let the Spoon fly off and wait to throw the grenade, lowering the oppositions chances of getting to cover. But dont wait too long! If the Spoon is held in place until the grenade is thrown, the usual procedure, then the Action Phase used to determine when the explosion will occur is the Phase, in the next Combat Turn, following the one on which theThrowing Action is initiated.
RIFLE GRENADES AND GRENADE LAUNCHER PROJECTILES

The use of Rifle Grenades is described in the Firearms Section. The effect of a Rifle Grenade going off is just the same as a Hand Grenade, only worse.
Grenade
M-1 Adapter M-14 Adapter 22mm Rifle Grenade 40mm Launcher Grenade 40mm Canister
Blast
10 15
Frag
5 5 10
15 5 5 Special. See below. Note that Adapter Grenades are specific to the Rifle designated. You must have an M-1 semiautomatic rifle to take the Adapter device for the M-1 Rifle Grenade. Thesame applies to the M-14 model.
22mm Grenades are essentially the same for all weapons, no matter if they are Ballistite or Live Ammo launched. The 40mm fragmentation Grenade is basically a Hand Grenade in a 40mm package. Ah! But the Canister round! This little monster flies 3 meters from the launcher and then blows up in a shapedpattern! It hurls a negligible Blast (5 points) but a Frag of 10, in a front 3 meters wide, for double the base Ranges. In the event of a miss, the time fuse is assumed to have malfunctioned. The scatter effect is rolled for as with Rifle Grenades, but rerolling if scatter is indicated as coming toward the firer.
forthe hit is needed, rollaDlOandaddlOtotheresult,which will give a Location number from the Hips (10-11) totheFeet (19-20). It is usually fatal. There are smaller, nuisance mines, which use Blast only, with a rating of only5. They work much thesame way, but are less lethal. As for the effects on the rest of the area, a Land Mine functions as does any other explosive weapon, but its base Ratings are halved, as are the BCS scores for its Frag attacks on those within range.
MORTAR SHELLS
These are the big babies delivered by Mortars, as described in the Firearms rules. Their effect is based on their diameter.
PRESSURE PLATES The mine is designed to go off in the Action Phase it is

stepped on. The Pressure Plate triggers a very short-term Chemical Timer. But there is a variable in this. Roll a D20. On a 1-10, it goes off at once, as planned. On an 11-19, it goes off in 1 Combat Turn. On a 20, i t is a dud, and will not go off at all. All mines count as Hidden Things. Electromagnetic Mine Detectors, the pancakes on a stick used today by treasure hunters, will detect a mine within a 3-meter radius, if the mine has any metal in its makeup. Mine Probes, 1-2 meter sticks tipped with thin rods, are used t o prod the ground at a sharp angle, theoretically hitting the side of the mine, which will not be triggered by such contact. Their use gives the searcher a Wit AST on finding the Hidden Thing (i.e., the Mine) rather than the usual CST. Proper use of any mine detection gear requires the concentration of the character using it and halves his normal Base Movement Allowance. It is possible to improvise a Mine Probe by crawling along a proposed route using a knife for the purpose. Characters expending 2 phases can safely pass through a hex holding a mine that they know is there.
Caliber
60mm 80mm 120mm
Blast
15 20 30
Frag
5 10 10
Again, the effects of being in range of one of these monsters is pretty obvious (also unfortunate).
LAND MINES
Unlike most explosives weapons, which a user actively directs at a target area, the Land Mine sits and waits for a target to come by. Most of the Mines in Aftermath! are of the classic anti-personnel type: one buries them a few centimeters under the surface, leaving a pressure plate exposed, or barely covered. When someoneenters the hex in which the mine is buried, it goesoff, usually with very painful results for the victim. It is difficult to give a Table of Land Mine types, since any reasonable charge may be used to provide a Blast, and for Frag if desired, many mines have optional casings of fragmented iron. The standard Land Mine is about 1 kg of Plastique, say a Blast of 10-30. If provided wilh a fragmenting casing, it will have a Frag of 5. But because the explosive is buried, its force will be somewhat shaped. Most of the damage goes straight up. Whoever steps on the Mine will be exposed to double the Blast and will always take a fragmentation hit which attacks his Average AV, if the mine is equipped for Frag. If a Location
CLAYMORE MINES
These are not buried. They resemble squat cylinders with an opening in one face, covering a 30-degree arc. When triggered, they act like very large 40mm Canister rounds, hurling a mass of steel ball bearings out along this line of fire. This mass of shot covers a 5-meter front, centered on the hex designated as the front of the Claymore. it has a maximum range of 60 meters. Both the BCS and the Frag of the mass are reduced as the range increases.
Pattern of a Claymore Mine
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Range 0-10 meters: BCS of 18. Frag of 10. Range 11-20 meters: BCS of 14. Frag of 8. Range 21-40 meters: BCS of 12. Frag of 6. Range 41-60 meters: BCS of 10. Frag of 5. The Claymore puts out a Blast of only 5 , radiating equally from the site of the Mine. For a true simulation of this deadly device, the Frag hits should attack the targets Average AV, rolling for location only in the event of a Critical Hit. This may be too cruel for the Gamesmasters taste, and he may freely choose to treat the attack as a normal Frag effect. Claymores may be triggered by remote control, a popular application when they form part of an established defensive setup, or by tripwires, as can the next device on our list: Bouncing Betty.
Task Period. Once the Trap is built, it must be concealed at its chosen location. If the appropriate Stealth BCS is made, it will count as a Hidden Thing with a penalty to the Wit CST needed to find itequal to the setters own Wit Group. Only one such BCS roll is permitted when setting the Trap. If the Booby Trap is very bulky, or is otherwise hard to find, the ,Gamesmaster may penalize the Stealth BCS. Once the Trap is installed, a final Demolition BCS (no averaging) is allowed, to trap it against overt attempts to disarm it. The Booby Trap has a Complexity Factor equal to the Effect Number of the roll divided by 4, down. This Factor will modify the Defusing Explosives BCS of any character attempting to disarm the Booby Trap. One roll is made; if failure is due to the Complexity Factor, the Trap will go off.
SPECIAL TRIGGERS
Assuming a simple time bomb is not used, whereby a concealed charge is set to go off at a given time or after a given interval, the Booby Trap may be tied in to one of a number of triggers.
BOUNCING BETTY MINES

This is the nom de guerre for a special type of mine. Triggered by tripwire or remote controls, a small propellant charge pops a grenade 2 meters into the air, where it proceeds to explode. This gives it Air Burst modifications. A 5/5 grenade is usually used, although larger models with a 10/5 rating are known.
Mechanical Trigger: The Trap is set to go off if some

action is performed: opening a door or case, moving some item, etc. The object in question is wired to a Chemical Timer, and moving it in the prescribed way activates the timer. Or the motion may close an electrical circuit, or remove a breaker from one, which will immediatelyset off the bom b. The latter type of fuse requires aspecial Task to prepare, using the Electricial Skill (and needing tools and components).
About Tripwires: The two previous Mines may be triggered

by Tripwires, that is, thin wires or cords extended from the explosive and stretched some inches above the ground where a victim is likely to trip over it. This triggers the Mine. Let us assume it takes 1 minuteto lay 1 meter of wire, using Stealth of the appropriate sort to conceal it. If the BCS is made, the wire is a Hidden Thing. Anyone entering a hex crossed by a Tripwire at a rate greater than a Walk, or at any speed at all if it is an undiscovered Hidden Thing, may trip over it. A Deftness AST will dodge known wires, a Deftness CST dodges unknown ones. Known wires may be stepped over safely if the character is walking. Assume that the maximum length of a Tripwire is about 30 meters, and only 1 turn in the wire is permitted.
Pressure Trigger: Similar to that used in Mines. A footplate in concealed in a hex and wired to the Trap. Altimeter Trigger: An electrical trigger set to go off if the
atmospheric pressure reaches a given level. Used for Booby-Trapping aircraft.
Photoelectric Trigger: Used for trapping rooms, tunnels,

etc. The alteration of the light level triggers the bomb (Electrician Skill is needed to build this trigger).
ANTI-VEHICLE MINES
These are treated much as normal Land Mines, but they are usually buried deeper (about 50cm to 1 meter) and have Pressure Plates set to go off only when pressed by objects of greater than human or animal mass (tanks, cars, etc.). For their effects, they are similar to other mines except that the chance of Vehicle Special Effects is not halved and, if no Special Effects occur, there is a flat percentage chance equal to the base blast that the vehicles motive system is destroyed.
Heat or Impact Triggers: Often used in Pipe Jobs,where the Trap is set in the muffler of a car. The heat of the exhaust and the vibration of the engine combine to set off the Trap.
Basically, the Gamesmaster and Player must put their heads together to decide what will trigger a Booby Trap and how it is to beconstructed. Almost anything can bedesigned as a Trigger, and when designing Traps that the PlayerCharacters will encounter, the Gamesmaster can let his imagination run free.
EXPLOSIVES VS. VEHICLES

Any explosives not specifically designed for such use will attack the vehicle with a VDG rating equal to one-half of the effective Blast rating. Since such things are considered high explosive charges, the chance of a Vehicle Special Effect is halved also. Explosives put into a vehicle will, of course, have the ususal effects on characters within the vehicle of any contained explosion of the particular type of explosive device.
BOOBY TRAPS
There are so many ways to set a Booby Trap that one cannot give hard and fast rules for dealing with them. Assume that Demolition and the appropriate Explosives Skill are averaged to give the BCS needed to construct the charge and prepare the trigger. The Gamesmaster decides on the Task Points needed to finish the job, and establishes the
50
BARTER
With civilization in ruins, mans monetary systems are also likely to go down the drain. A currency is only worth something in this day and age if people believe in it. With a collapse of organized governments, man will probably revert to a barter economy. The value of an item to a person will be related to the persons needs and wants, in that order. Any attempt to classify all the possible items and their values to defferent people with different priorities would be hopelessly doomed before it was begun. The entire process of bartering, as presented here, is a guideline. The activity of bartering for goods and services is variable by its nature. A good trader will get a better deal than a poor trader but the price in one town might be cheap, in another expensive, and in a third the item may be totally unavailable. When the Gamesmaster allows the players to have a barter session, he should be aware that it can get very involved. Players are always on the lookout for the best possible deal or arrangement for their characters. This may result in involved sessions where the players are constantly asking the prices of items to figure out the arrangement most to their advantage, reneging on earlier arrangements because they have thought of something better, and attempting t o trade back something they have just bought because a friend traded for something else they find more attractive. This sort of thing will get on the Gamesmasters nerves. It is a safe bet that it would also get on the nerves of the non-player character represented by the Gamesmaster in these curcumstances. Such traders may refuse to make further deals in that session and would certainly raise the value of any other items that they offered. When there is a lot of trading to bedone, the Gamesmaster may wish t o obtain from the players a list of what the characters have available to trade. He should put a value on the items on the list. Totalling all the values will yield a number of Barter Points available to the Player-Characters. These can be treated as money to buy items and/or services from the trader at prices set by the Gamesmaster. Doing things this way is less colorful than dickering x e r e a c h item, but will avoid spending the hours required to do just that. operating in a city is known throughout the city. A trader travelling through the countryside might be known over an area with a radius of 1 to 300 kilometers depending on his goods, services, mode of transport, and the density of the population. If the Gamesmaster designs a Personality NonPlayer Character for a trader, he should establish the characters trade route and stock. Sometimes the reason for not being rough with a trader will be immediately obvious. He may travel in a tank. For whatever reasons, players should be aware that traders are in many ways the heralds of the reawakening civilization. Heralds have a traditional immunity when they are performing their duties. Players should know what they are doing if they contemplate attacking a trader. The consequences, even if not immediate, can be lethal.
BARTER PROCESS
The barter process consists of establishing the price and either meeting it or not. To establish the price, the Gamesmaster will first determine the overall attitude of the trader in the transaction. By making a roll on the Reaction Table, and multiplying the Value Number by 5%, the Gamesmaster will get a modification to the base Barter Point value of all goods or services in the transaction. This applies only to the traders evaluation of the Player-Characters offered trading stock. Both sides will roll a Cdmmerce Skill BCS. If individual items are being bartered, a roll will be made for each transaction. In this case the Commerce score will be averaged with the score in a Skill which governs the use of the items in the transaction before the BCS is calculated. The value of the Player-Characters goods will be altered by a factor. This factor is 1% times a number, whether positive or negative, arrived at by subtracting the Effect Number of the traders BCS roll, if successful, from the Player-Characters Effect Number, i f his BCS roll was successfu I . These modifications are not added together but are done successively. If the traders reaction was Excellent, the basic values of the Player-Characters goods is increased by 25%(+5 times 5% means an increase of 5 x 5% or 25%). If the traders Effect Number was 12 and the Player-Characters was 2, the net Effect Number is-10. Multiplied by 1%, this will give a negative modification of 10%. If the base Barter Point value of the item was 100, the first modification would raise it by 25% to 125. The second modification would reduce it by 10% or 12.5, rounded to the nearest yielding 13, for a Barter Point value for the item of 112. Note that his is not the same result that would be obtained if the two modifications were added together. Such a process would give a modification of 115%of the baseof 2~0/~-100/~or1~0!o,andafinalvalueof 100, or 115 Barter Points.
TRADERS
Traders are a vital link between survivor communities. They carry goods, services, and news between such holdings. As this is the case, the communities would not take kindly to their being killed or robbed. Characters who think that it might be easier to kill a trader and take what they want should keep this in mind. Traders generally haveestablished routes where they are known. This gives them a Recognition Factor which is applied to the goods that th?y carry. Any character seen carrying or using the goods of a trader who has been robbed or killed will be immediately suspected of the deed. This Recognition Factor can bedetermined by the Gamesmaster with the roll oy 2010. He may add to this any modifications he deems appropriate due to length of time on the trade route, distinctiveness of material, any certifiable markings on the goods, etc. This Factor is the chance in 20 that goods will be recognized. For each week since the discovery of the traders loss the Factor will be reduced by 1. The Gamesmaster should remember that this sort of thing will only apply within the territory of the trader. The Gamesmaster can probably assume that a trader
BARTERVALUES
The actual Barter Point value of an item can vary widely. In any barter economy the price of an item or service is directly dependent on need. The value of a curativedrug t o a sick man is well above the base value of the drug. The value of a .38 caliber round to a man with a .45 caliber pistol is minimal. The Gamesmaster is the final arbiter of the base value of an item. It may not have the same value at the next trading session.
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Various factors will affect the value. These include the immediate usefulness of the item or service, its continued usefulness, its rarity, its condition if an item or quality if a service, and the reaction of the buyer to its nature. The latter can have consequences outside the barter area. One need only look t o classic stories where a person is thought a sorcerer or witch because of the artifacts of technology he is carrying. Such things can lead to ones being made an honored guest at the bonfire...or the honored fuel.
Action
ss
Value
0 1 2 2.5 3
Format
Pistol SMG Carbine Rifle Shotgun
Value
1 5 4 3 5
SA, BA, LA. PA DA AL FA, AB
Feature
Value
GUIDELINE BARTER VALUES Clothing andArmor:Such things have a basic value which is modified by the material of which they are made. The base value is the number of Locations covered by the garment times the Armor Value of the material. This base is then multiplied by a figure dependent on the general class of the material:
Cloth, Leather, Hide Metal Metal with AV over 9 Plastic Plastic with AV over 5 Plastic with AV over 10 x .5 x l x 1.5 x l x 1.5 x2
Match Weapon 2 Target Weapon 2 Multi-Round Capable # of rounds (use highest BDG for base value) Other features values are at Gamesmasters discretion. Thus, a gun that fires a round with a BDG of 15, with a Durability of 3, DA Action, and a Pistol Format will have a base value of 15 and a Factor of 3 + 2 + 1 or 6, for a total value of 15 x 6, or 90.
Muscle-PoweredMissile Weapons: Such weapons tend to

have a Value equal to the Weapon Damage Multiplier. Bows and Crossbows would have a Value equal to onehalf the Pound Pull.
Special properties of clothing or armor will increase the value. Blast buffering Lazab (Laser Ablative) Fire resistance Electrical insulation Thermal insulation increases base value by 10 per factor increases base value by 10 per factor +2 per Location for each factor
Hand-to-Hand Weapons: Such weapons have a base value equal to the Weapon Damage Multiplier. This is multiplied by a factor based on the type of damage done by the weapon, added to a factor based on the weapons length. Damage Type
L type B type c type
Factor
3 2 1
Length
Short Average Long Extra Long
Factor
0 1 1.5 2
Thus a weapon doing L type damage, with a WDM of 2.2, would have aValueof2.2x(l + 31, or8.8, rounded tog.
+2 per Location for each

factor +2 per Location for each factdr
Firearm Ammunition: The base value of ammunition is the

BDG of the round divided by 20 and rounded up to the nearest whole number. The value of a magazine would be its capacity times 2.
If capable of protection +lo0 per vector protected against Chemical Weapons against If capable of protection +200 per vector protected against Biological Weapons against If capable of protection +lo0 per 50 REM reduction against radiation
Grenadesand Explosives: A unit of explosives has a value

equal to a base value times a factor based on the type of explosive. The base value is equal to 5 times the sum of the Blast and Frag ratings.
Explosive Type
Grenade Dynamite (TNT) Plastic Explosive HE Shells Other
Factor
1.5 1.5 2 2 1
Gunsand Bullets: Guns havea basevalueequal totheBDG

of the round which they fire. This basevalue is multiplied by a factor which is the sum of all the applicable factors concerning its Durability, Action, Format, Features, etc. Durability Factor is equal to Durability rating.
These are quantifications for only a few types of items. The Gamesmaster will also find suggested values in the section on gear and equipment on page 53 and in the listings of weapons and armor in the appendices.
52
GEAR AND EQUIPMENT

Various kinds of gear and equipment are available to the character in Aftermath! The variety is so great that only a small portion is described here. In many cases a thing is described in generalized terms. Specific details may be added by the Gamesmaster. Some things are described as kits. A kit is a collection of things which allow a character to perform a function and/or increase his efficiency in performing a function. The Gamesmaster should feel free t o design any equipment desired. Such equipment may be extrapolated from the various types included in the rules. Equipment and gear are represented by category and specific piece. Suggested Barter Point value is placed i n parentheses after the name. A description and detailsfollow.
3 (1000 BPI
--
Non-mobile. Represents a fully-equipped auto repair shop, requiring a Light Industrial power line or equivalent to operate, consuming power at a rate of 2 kilowatts. Efficiency Factor of 3.
ARMOR: Various types of armor are available. Simple

metallic and nonmetallic armors will certainly be available. Plastic armors will be available in some campaigns. For the most part these materials function as other armor materials with regard t o Format, Reinforcing, and stopping damage. Fire will affect plastics in a special way. When the Strength Rating of the fire, applied to the plastic, equals the Armor Value of the plastic, it will melt. This effectively destroys the armor on the Locations where the fire has been applied. It will also cause additional lethal damage to the character equal to the former Armor Value of the plastic material. Also available is a ballistic cloth material which will act asa Barrier to incoming missile fire. This will reduce BDG of gunpowder weapons and effective Strength Groups of muscle-powered missile weapons before they attack the characters Armor Value on a Location covered by this material. Some sample pieces of armor are presented below:
Item
Army Helmet Chainmail Shirt Flak Jacket Flak jacket, plastic Motorcycle helmet Police riot helmet with gorget Hardened leather body armor
Coverage Format Code 1 R SP

4-12 4-1 2 4-12 1-2 1-3 4-1 2 FH SR SR R M-SP LP-AA LP-MP SY MP H-HL
AV ENC
9 6 6 8 .07 .936 .468 ,288 .02 .072 .072
BATTERIES: In Aftermath! we have posited the development of a no-leak, rechargeable storage battery, known as the Eternabattery. An Eternabattery is designated by the abbreviation E- followed by the number of 100 watt-hour charges it can hold at maximum levels of charge. A small meter on the battery casing indicates the amount of power hald in to at any given time. Standard sizes used for various appliances and tools, or to power independent units, are the E-1, E-5, and E-10. A larger size, delivering current of a slightly different nature, is specially designed for vehicles and other large units. Designated Ev-, the sizes run at Ev10, Ev-50, and Ev-100. The Encumbrance of batteries is determined as follows: E-type at .01 times its charge capacity, and Ev-type at .1 times its capacity. The Barter Value of an Eternabattery is 2 times its capacity for E-types, and 5 times its capacity for Ev-types. Eternabatteries are charged by connecting an induction transformer, colloquially known as a leech. to a source of electrical current. Its workings are referred t o in Book 3, but basically it will convert available power into stored charges at the maximum possible rate. Ev-type batteries have a builtin leech. The portable units used for E-type batteries havean ENC of .5and a Barter Value of 50. A leech can be connected to 1 battery at a time for charging. Larger units exist for use with larger numbers of batteries. These may be designed at the Gamesmasters pleasure, in either semi- or non-portable forms, at Barter Point costs of 50 per battery of capacity. BLACKSMITHING TOOLS: Blacksmithing requires a forge which includes a furnace, an anvil, a quenching bath and tools. Efficiency will vary. Roll 2D2 and multiply the result to get a forges Efficiency factor. A portable forge is possible with an ENC value of 24. It may be broken down into four units of 6 ENC each. They are Huge 2 in bulk. An improvised forge is possible. It will be only half thesize of the portable forge but no armor material greater than 9 in AV may be worked and any weapons made will be inferior quality at best. Electric Forges add 1 to the random Efficiency Factor. They consume 100 watts x the total Efficiency rating in power. BOOKS Books by their very nature are varied. They fall into the following game classifications: Fiction, References, Texts, and Manuals. Fiction has no direct application in the game but may prove useful as a trading item. References will be specified as to the Skill with which they correspond. Reference books count as the proper facilities for study with regard to Skills. A literacy BCS will add 1 to a characters Wit Group when performing a design Task if he has access to an appropriate reference work. Texts, again specified as to Skill, will be rated for a range of points within the Skill. In the absence of a Teacher, a successful BCS roll with Literacy will allow the Text to
5
9
R
FH
AUTO REPAIR KITS: These kits permit repairs t o be made to

most standard vehicles. A special military issue kit is required for work on AFV, at least those equipped with special engine systems (multi-fuel, nuclear, etc.). These kits allow maintenance work to be done, but do not manufacture the necessary parts. Kit # ENC Notes 1 1 Contains hand tools for work on vehicles. (50 BP) Efficiency Factor of 1. 2 2 Contains some powered tools. If no power is (100 BP) available then treat this as a Kit 1. If being used in powered mode, it is rated for 500 watts (5 Charges per hour) power consumption. It is designed to operate on either standard or Heavy Household current (see Technologysection, Book 3). Efficiency Factor of 2.
53
function as a Tescher. This is only allowed if the characters current score is within the range of the Text. The upper limit of the Texts range works in the same way as a teachers upper limit. It may not be exceeded in a Study Session. If a Teacher is available, the successful Literacy BCS roll will grant the reader a +1 to his learning Rate for that week due to use of the Text. Manuals, specified as to Skill, are rated as having a BCS in that Skill. A character making a Literacy BCS roll may operate as if he had a score in the Skill which would give him the BCS Rating of the Manual. All Task Periods or Action required are doubled when operating this way. A character with a BCS in the Skill less than the Manuals BCS may use it in this way but the increase in required time isonly by50%. A character whose BCS exceeds that of the Manual will receive a +1 to his BCS if the Literacy BCS roll is made. Books come in many forms and the exact ENC value of a book is left to the Gamesmasters discretion. Barter Point value will vary just as wildly. Non-fiction books will be a valuable commodity if the subject is a useful Skill.
range by half (75 BP) but will operate for 5 hours on an E charge (20 Watts). A base station will have an ENC of 5 , a range of 50 km, a Barter Point value of 500, and requires 5 E charges to operate for an hour (500 Watts). Military and police units are comparable in structure but have double the range and Barter Point valuesof 150% of the comparable civilian version. A small short-wave radio (250 BP) with an ENC of 2 will have a range of about 200 km and will be degraded less by man-made constructions. Due to interference problems, the effective range in an urban environment will be reduced by 2D10 times 5%.
COMPASSES (5 BP) Allow a character to determine the compass direction. CONTAINERS: A large variety of containers is available. Samples are presented below: Item
small sack large sack satchel shoulder bag knapsack backpack camping pack large lightweight packs bullet belt cartridge belt belt pouch vial flask bottles
ENC Capacity Barter Utility Collapsed (Max. Bulk) Value Notes

0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 3 3 2 2 2 3 ,1 ,2 ,5 ,3 ,4 1 (Small) 3 (Medium) 5 (Medium) 5 (Medium) 5 (Medium) 10 (Medium) 10 (Medium) 12 (Medium) 100 rounds 10 clips .5 (Small) 1 deciliter 5 deciliters 1 liter 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 10 5 5 1 3 4 5 1 2 3 3 3,4
3,5
CALCULATORS: Such devices will increase the Wit Group

of a character performing a design Task if a Mathematics BCS roll is made. Size will vary from .01 ENC to .6ENC.
CHEMICAL GEAR: Besides various forms of Lab, chemical

gear will consist of units of chemical supplies. In general the exact nature of the chemicals is not specified. A unit would have an ENC value of about .3 and might be noted as being in a fragile or sturdy container. Barter Point value would be about 20 per unit.
.5
,5
.5
.2 .4 .1 .1 .3
6 6
7 8,9 8,9 8,9
Notes
This is basically a home chemistry lab. Its Efficency Factor is .5. A more complete but portable lab with an Efficiency Factor of 1. A full educational lab. About half the equipment is non-portable, but that which is would yield two Lab 2 sets. Such a Lab usually requires power (Wattage Rating of 1500) and has an Efficiency Factor of 2. An industrial production lab. Breaks down as a Lab 3. This lab requires power (Wattage Rating of 3000) and has an Efficiency Factor of 3.
.5
Notes
1 Must be carried 2 Worn side-slung 3 Worn on back 4 Has 2D2 large pockets 5 4 large and 2 medium pockets 6 Snaps shut over clips 7 Snap, button closure 8 Fragile glass. Plastic not fragile U-3 and twice Value 9 Liquid container ENC values are constants Containers only count against a characters total Encumbrance value if they are holding less than their collapsed ENC value inside. When worn in a proper fashion the ENC value of an item inside is only counted as half its ENC value in the characters Encumbrance Total. The items full value is counted against the containers capacity.
CLOTHING: Various types of clothing are avilable. In contruction they are similar to armor but are usually less rugged. Almost any type of clothing can be constructed as long as the designer remembers that the garment must function as a garment. Clothes usually fit a body. They are not held on with glue. Some sample garments are presented below: Item
Field jacket Pants Leather jacket Street Suit Winter jacket
Coverage
4-12, 21-28 10-11 4-9, 21-28 3-18, 21-28 4-12, 21-28
Format Code
FQ FQ FS PX Q-HC
HC HC HL FQ Q-FQ
AV 2 2 4 6 3
ENC Notes
,016 ,009 ,112 .48 ,032 1 2 3 4 5
Notes
1 2 3 4 This garment has 4 large pockets. This garment has 2 medium and 2 small pockets. This garment may have 2 small pockets. Such garments have from 2 to 6 medium pockets. 5 Such garments have 2 large pockets and are rated for 1 factor of thermal protection.
COMMU NICATlONS EQUIPMENT: Citizens Band type equipment (100 BP) operates for an hour on an E charge (Power Rating of 100 Watts) and has an effective range of 10 km. It has an ENC value of 1. Hand units reduce ENC and
DECONTAMINATION EQUIPMENT: Decontamination equipment is rated by the maximum number of cubic meters which will be decontaminated by the equipment at full charge. Equipment is also rated as Biological, Chemical, or Nuclear Decontaminant. One charge will decontaminate 1 cubic meter or 15 Locations on a character. Equipment comes in lo-, 50-, and 100-charge sizes. ENC value is onehalf the maximum charge value. Barter Value on the equipment is equal to the charge size. Each charge has a Barter Value of 10. Detection equipment comes in binary and analysiscapable forms. It is rated by type of contaminant detected. Range is 5 meters. Binary forms have an ENC of .6 and a Barter Value of 50. Analysis-capable forms have an ENC of 1.2 and a Barter Value of 50 base plus 25 for each part of a formula they will show to the character. Radiation counters only come in binary forms. Analysis will only be made of contaminants in the units solid-state memory banks. Mutant strains and unclassified substances will read as Unknown.
54
DRAFTING EQUIPMENT: A simple (25 BP) kit has an ENC of 2, and an Efficiency Factor of 1. A complex kit (50 BP) hasan ENC of 6 and an Efficiency Factor of 2. Drafting equipment is required for a design Task. Design Tasks of simple things without using a Drafting kit is allowed but the character will have an Efficiency Factor of .25. ELECTRICIANS K I T Required for any electrical work. Klt #
1 (50)
ENC Notes
2 Requires power for most functions but does include a meter for detecting active current at a range of 20 m. Efficiency Factor of 1. Power Rating of 100 Watts. Similar to Kit 1 but powered equipment works on batteries. Powered equipment for small and delicate work. Efficiency Factor of 1.5, Power Rating of 50 Watts.
2 (100) 3
2 10
(300)
FABRIC GEAR: A Spinning Kit (20 BP) will turn raw wool into
thread with an Efficiency Factor of 1 and an ENC of 3. A Powered Spinning Kit (50 BP) has double the Efficiency Factor and ENC value. Weaving kits are the same as Spinning Kits except they take thethread, as produced by Spinning Kits, and turn it into cloth. It requires 10 units of thread to produce 1 unit of cloth. One unit of cloth will cover one Location. Sewing kits (5 BP) are used to turn cloth into garments. They follow the pattern for Spinning and Weaving kits but a simple kit hasand ENCof .3. It requires 1 unit of thread (2 BP) to turn 5 units of cloth into garment(s).
A candle will burn for 30 minuter per inch of length; asmall tin of sterno for 2 hours; a kerosene lantern or Coleman lamp for 1 hour per deciliter of fuel; a match for 1D3 + 1 Combat Turns. A prepared torch burns for2 hours, but an improvised one for half that long. A flare is good for 3 hours, but has twice the Encumbrance of a torch when lit because of its highly irritating fumes and the hot chemicals it drips. Electric Light This mostly applies to portable light sources. Full overhead illumination such as modern office buildings will provide Good Light for the whole room it is in, if fully operational. An electric light has a Wattage Rating. One half the Wattage represents the radius it will illuminate with Good Light if the light is shed in all directionsevenly. If a reflector is used, as with a flashlight or spotlight, increase the distance to which Good Light is cast by a factor of 2 (double the range). Assume that this isfora reflectorcasting a30-degree cone of light. If the cone is wider, reduce the multiplier; if narrower, increase it. If it is wider than about 90 degrees, no significant increase in range is achieved. If narrower than about 10 degrees, then the multiplier grows no larger. Some standard sources of electric light are:
Pocket Flashlight: ENC: .1 Wattage: 4 Power Source: One

E-1 Barter Value: 5 One of the small, disposable units sold at most stores today. Has a 30-degree reflector, giving it a beam rangeof 4 meters of Good Light.
Small Flashlight: ENC: .25 Wattage: 10 Power Source:

One E-1 Barter Value: 10 Standard flashlight, although it operates off of one Eternabattery instead of the two or three dry cell units used today. Equipped with a 30-degree reflector, it has a range for Good Light of 10 meters.
FIRE EXTINGUISHERS: This gear comes i n small (5charge), medium (20-charge), and large (50-charge) They are rechargeable. An extinguisher has an ENC value of .1 times its maximum charge and a Barter Value equal to 5 times its capacity. A unit of charge has a Barter Value of 10. One charge will reduce the strength of a fire by 1 in 1 cubic meter.
Heavy Flashlight: ENC: 4 Wattage: 10 Power Source: One E-1 Barter Value: 50 The larger model of the standard unit. Casts a beam of Good Light for 20 meters. Campers Flashlight: ENC: .6 Wattage: 30 Power Source:
One E-5 Barter Value: 75 Long-barrelled, with a heavy, adjustable reflector, this unit can be set for a multiplier to the base illumitation of between 2 and 4, for a beam of 30-60 meters. It is heavy enough to use as a Club (WDM of 1.2), but hasa chance in 20 of breaking equal to the damage potential of a hit. One such breakage will Desrepair it, and a second Junks it. A third time leaves you with a very shiny club.
EOUIPMENT: Handloading kits are specified as Pistol, Rifle, or Shotgun. The Efficiency Factor will be .5times the result of 103. The ENC of a kit is 1 and the Barter Value is 100 times the Efficiency Factor. A unit of primers (25 BP) will do50 rounds and has an ENC of .3. A unit of smokeless powder (1BP) is 20 grains and has an ENC of .001. A bullet (1 BP) and a cartridge (1 BP) each have an ENC of .001. A swage will be rated for the type of bullet it produces. Its Barter Value is equal to the BDG of the bullet it will produce. The ENC is .5 and its Efficiency Factor, from 10 to 100 (1 D10 x l o ) , is the numberof bulletsproducesfrom 1 unit (10 BP) of lead (ENC of 1) in an hours Task Period. LEATHERWORKING KITS: Work the same as Sewing kits
but the ENC of a Simple kit is 1.
HANDLOADING
Campers Floodlight: ENC: 1.2 Wattage: 200 Power Source: 2 E-5 Barter Value: 120 A small spotlight mounted on a battery pack. It has a60degree angle of beam, for a Good Light range of 150 meters. LOCKPICKS: See initial equipment on page 5. MAGNATUNER: This device allows a character with
Magnalock Penetration Skill to pick a lock of that kind. The improved version (100 BP) uses an E-5. has an ENC of 1 and an Efficiency Factor of 2, and adds 1 to the characters BCS. See initial equipment on page 5 for the basic model. Uses .5 Charges per BCS attempt.
LIGHT SOURCES Fire or electrical light are the two

commonest forms of illumination in AftermatMThe chemical Cold Light sticks used by campers arestill around also, but harder to find. Any light source will be rated in terms of how large an area it can cover with Good Light (daylight levels). For 5 meters beyond the boundaries of this area, any light source will provide Dim Light, and for 5 meters beyond that, Poor Light. Fire: A small flame (candle, sterno, match, kerosene lamp) provides 1 meter of Good Light unless magnified by a glass chimney. This will bring it up to 5 meters. A wooden torch, or a railroad or traffic flare, will provide 5 meters of Good Light. A large fire (campfire or bonfire) provides 10 meters of Good Light.
MAG NATU NER
55
MEDICAL GEAR: Drugs are dealt with in Book 3. Other medical gear is listed below: Item ENC Notes Bandage .01 Allows character to recover from 1 point of Lethal damage. (5 BPI Medical supplies .05 Uses vary. (10 BP) Medkit 1 (50 BP) Medkit 2 (100 BP)
TOOLS: Various Tool Kits are available. Item Kit 1 (20 BP) Kit 2 (50 BP) ENC Notes
1
Hand tools of varying sorts. Efficiency Factor of 1. Kit 1 plus power hand tools. Efficiency Factor of 1.5. As Kit 2 but tools use E batteriesat the rate of 5 Charges per hour of operation. Heavy power tools as well as Kit 2. Efficiency Factor of 2. Power Rating of 1000 Watts.
.5
2
Adds 1 to BCS of user in First Aid Used for most applications of Advanced Medical Skill. Has a carrying capacity of 1 (Small). This is a doctors black bag. The computer is a portable microprocessor with permanent memory holding diagnostic programs and telemetry interpretation programs. It is connected to a patient by several wire leads. It will analyze his general condition (DRT score, effective Attribute levels, age, etc.). It hhs a BCS of 15 in analyzing diseases or the presence of drugs, it adds 2 to the BCS roll of a Pathologist in any situation. Consumes 1 Charae Der 10 uses. It uses an E-5 for pokerunder normal circumstances. Adds 2 to Advanced Medical BCS. Power Rating of 1000 Watts.
Kit 3 2 (100 BP) 5 Kit 4 (1000 BP)units of 6
Medcomp 2 (1000 BP)
Tool kits are designed for working wood. When working metal reduce the Efficiency Factor by .5 unless the Kit specified as a metalworking kit. UNDERWATER GEAR: Various kinds of gear can be used in and under the water. Some examples are listed below: Item Wet suit ENC Notes .05 Has Thermal Factor of 1. Covers 1 to 28. Holds a half-hour of air.
SCUBA tank 3 (100 BP) Weight belt (25 BP) Flippers (10 BP)
Surgery (2500 BP)
Worn in place of normal belt. Allows character to adjust Encumbrance status to 1 step lower when in the water.
PLASTICS EQUIPMENT: Rigid plastics require molding gear for production. The production of plastics stock also requires heavy equipment. Specifics are left to the Gamesmaster. Such equipment is not really portable. Item Plastics Repair Kit 1 (25 BP) Kit 2 (50 BP) Kit 3 (100 BP) ENC Notes
1
.01 Doubles Base Movement Allowance when swimming. Halves it on land.
Spear Gun 1 (70 BP)
Can be used to repair plastics up to AV 5 which are not based on a Rigid Format. Can be used for plastics up to AV 9. Can be used for any plastics. One charge will repair 1 Location by 1 point of AV. Thus it takes 5 charges to repair 1 Location that had AV 5. Mask (20 BP)
Similar to an elasticity-3 slingshot with a Strength of 30 behind it. It requires the application of 30 Strength points to cock it in the fashion of a crossbow. Ranges areas a slingshot but all BCS modifications are doubled. Underwater ranges are halved. The missile is treated as having a WDM of 1.5L.
.03 Allow maximum visibility under water.
Repair charge .05 (5 BP)
Depth gauge/ watch .01 Allows the character to monitor his air supply and safe rate of ascent. (100 BP) WATCHES (50 BP): Allow characters to coordinate action when out of communication with each other. If a party out of communication is attempting to coordinate actions with another group, it will miss by the Effect Number gotten from a Wit CST of the leader of one of the parties. If the Effect Number is negative they will act before the other party. Each point of Effect Number indicates a 1 Combat Turn difference.
SHIELDS: These are dealt with in Appendix 5. SURVIVAL GEAR: These are the components of a survival kit. Item ENC Notes Match (1 BPI Flint & Steel (1 BP) Chalk (.01 BP) .01/5 Has 90% chance of igniting when struck. Requires an Action. .01 .01 Has 40% chance of igniting tinder when struck.
.05 Snare (2 BPI Magnifying Lens .01 Will ignite tinder in 2D3 Combat Turns (usable on sunny day only). (2 BP) Space Blanket .1 Used as a bed roll. Has a Thermal Factor (10 BP) of 2.
56
VEHICLES
The intention of this section is to provideguidelines forthe inclusion of vehicles of varyina sorts into the world of Aftermath! Vehicles, by their very nature, are difficult to deal with in the same scale that one is dealing with a single man. The Gamesmaster will probably find that he must use a combination of Detailed Action and Tactical Scales to handle situations involving vehicles. Vehicles are only dealt with in general terms. The Gamesmaster is left to provide specific details of vehicles that he wishes to include in his campaign. Provided in Appendix 7 is a selection of some sample vehicles to give the Gamesmaster, or player, a better idea of the transition from the generalized guidelines presented in this section to the specifications for a particular vehicle. The Gamesmaster is warned that these rules are not designed to handle situations with large numbers of vehicles. If he wishes to devise situations which will result in the use of large numbers, he is advised to work out a compromise between Aftermath! and some other rules designed to deal with the complex interactions of many vehicles. The rules as presented deal primarily with ground vehicles though adaptation to aircraft and boats is minimal. The Area of a vehicle is the number of hexes o n the DAT Display that are occupied by the representation of the vehicle. Thus, a vehicle that is 2 hexes wide and 3 hexes long has an Area of 6. The Damage Resistance of a vehicle is based on its Structure and one half its Area. The product of these two numbers is the vehicles Damage Resistance. Thus, a vehicle with a Structure rating of 2 and an Area of 6 would have a Damage Resistance of 2 x 3 or 6. When a vehicle is damaged in combat, each time thedamage done to it reaches thevalue of the Damage Resistance, the vehicle will lose 1 point of Durability. Thus, our sample vehicle, if it took 4 points of damage, would lose 2 points of Durability. When it takes 4 more points of damage it will lose another point Of Durability. The type of Fuel System used by a vehicle will affect such things as its maximum speed and its efficiency in utilizing fuel. In the chart below are presented four Fuel Systems.The Velocity Efficiency is a percentageof the top speed specified for a vehicle using a Petroleum fuel. This percentage is taken of the top speed given for a Petroleum fueled version of a vehicle such as can be found in whatever reference source is being used by the Gamesmaster for his statistics on the vehicle. This yields the top speed for that version of the vehicle at its maximum Durability. The Mileage percentage is applied in a similar fashion to the statistics for a Petroleum Fueled base vehicle. A model vehicle with a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour which gets 10 kilometers per liter (thats72 mph and 25 mpg) is designed to use Electric power. I t would have a maximum speed of 48 kph and get 5 kilometers out of 1 charge. If the model vehicle had run on diesel fuel the kilometers per charge figure would have been 4.5.
QUANTIFYING VEHICLES
Each particular vehicle is described by a listing of its specifics in relation to certain categories. These categories include Durability, Structure, Area, Damage Resistance and Fuel System. Each of these categories will be dealt with in turn. The Durability of a vehicle is a measure of its condition. Durability ratings run from 1 to 20. A vehicle with a Durability of 20 is in absolute top condition while a vehicle with a Durability to 1 is barely able to function. When a vehicles Durability reaches 0, it is considered to be Disrepaired. If the vehicles Durability reaches a negative value beyond its Structure rating it is considered Junked. Beyond twice its Structure rating, the vehicle is considered totally destroyed and is even useless for parts. Thus, a vehicle with a Structure rating of 2 is Disrepaired if its Durability rating is in the range from 0 to -2 and Junked if the rating is from -3 to -4. If the rating is -5 or less, the vehicle is totally destroyed. The Durability will also affect the maximum speed that the vehicle is capable of achieving. The Durability rating times 10% (maximum value is 100%) is the percentageof thestated top speed after modification for Fuel System, that the vehicle, in its current state, is capable of reaching. Note that this speed is not the same as the Maximum Safe Speed. The Basic Structure rating of a vehicle is based on the ruggedness of its construction. The values run from 1 to 5. Each general class of vehicle may have any rating assigned to it by the Gamesmaster that falls into the general range for that class.
__
FUEL SYSTEMS
System
Petroleum Gasoline Alcohol2 Hydrogen3 Electric4
Velocity Efficiency Kelometers per Hour 100%

100%
Mileage* Kilometers per Liter or per Charge

120% 100% (85%)
60%
50O/o
80% (70%)
60% (50%)
50% (45%)
40%
Notes
The availability of vehicles using these Fuel Systems may soon become limited in the real world. Their availability in a ruined world may be non-existent. 2This is a system burning ethyl alcohol as the combustible. 3This system uses metallic hydrides to store hydrogen which is released as the combustible. It is stored ascharges. 4This system uses power stored in a battery. It is stored as charges. If the model vehicle operates on diesel fuel use the number in parentheses for calculation of the Mileage.
STRUCTURE RATINGS General Vehicle Class

Vehicles designed for road use Vehicles designed for off-road use Heavy-duty vehicles or light combat vehicles Heavy combat vehicles
Rating
1-2 2-3
3-4 4-5
57
KPH TO DAT MOVEMENT CONVERSION TABLE KPH m/ct m/AP RoundedValue
OPERATING A VEHICLE
A character driving a vehicle is committed to driving the vehicle for a whole Combat Turn. During that Combat Turn he will have his Base Action Phase altered to 20. This is the Base Action Phase of any vehicle. This BAP will be used to calculate the characters new Phases Consumed in Action Number which will be in effect as long as the character is driving the vehicle. At the beginning of any of his Actions, all of which are Drive Vehicle, the character may alter the direction of the vehicle. The turning radius of a vehicle is one vehicle length per 10 kph of current speed. The Gamesmaster must use his discretion in applying this if the vehicle is being represented on a DAT Display. A Driving Skill BCS roll will alter the effective speed used in thiscalculation by the Effect Number, subtracting from it or adding to it according to the success of failure indicated by the roll. The speed of a vehicle may be safely decreased by 5 kph per Action Phase. On the Action Phase that the driver declares that he is decelerating, the vehicle will move at the speed at which it had been travelling. At theend of that phase it will be moving at the new speed. On the following phase, it will move at its new speed. This process continues until the vehicle is at the speed desired by the driver or its speed is reduced to zero and it has come to a stop. Eva is driving at 20 kph. A figure darts out in front of her about 12 meters down the road. Eva decelerates but does not slam o n the brakes. Eva starts the deceleration on Action Phase 6 which is the first time she can react since she did not see the figure until Action Phase 7. For Phase 6, the vehicle is moving at 20 kph and will cover 1.6 meters. On Phase 5, i t will be moving at 15 kph and cover 1.2 meters. On phase 4 , the speed is 10 kph and the distance covered is .8 meters. Action Phase 3 will reduce the speed from its current 5 kph to 0 but the vehicle will cover an additional .4 meters. The vehicle will not be moving on Action Phase 2. The total distance covered since deceleration was started is 1.6 plus 1.2 plus .8 plus .4 equals 4 meters which is well short of the figure in the road. As shown in the example, the distance traveled by a moving vehicle in one Action Phase is related to the speed at which it is traveling. The basic rule is that a vehicle will cover 1.6 meters per Combat Turn per kilometer/hour of speed. To find the distance covered in a single Action Phase at a given speed, divide the number obtained for the entire Combat Turn by 20. A vehicle may accelerate at 1 kph per Action Phase. If the Gamesmaster wishes, he may designate a vehicle as having a higher or lower rate of acceleration. For convenience. the Gamesmaster may wish to only deal with speeds in 5 kph increments. If a given movement calls for a fraction of a meter and there is doubt as to which hex of a DAT Display a vehicle will be in, round up to the nearest meter to avoid arguments. The table on this page gives calculated values for various speeds. If a character wishes to decelerate at a rate faster than 5 kph per Action Phase he will find himself subject to the rules for Slamming on the Brakes. I f the weather conditions are less than optimal the safe rate of deceleration will be reduced. For example, in the rain the safe rate may only be3 kph per Phase and on ice it might only be 1 kph per Action Phase.
120 115 110 105 100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5
192 184 176 168 160 152 144 136 128 120 112 104 96 88 80 72 64 56 48 40 32 24 16 8
9.6 9.2 8.8 8.4 8.0 7.6 7.2 6.8 6.4 6.0 5.6 5.2 4.8 4.4 4.0 3.6 3.2 2.8 2.4 2.0 1.6 1.2 0.8 0.4
10 9 9 8 8 8 7 7 6 6
6
5 5 4 4
4
3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1
MAXIMUM SAFE SPEEDS

A vehicle will have a Maximum Safe Speed depending on its exact type and the weather and terrain conditions. In some cases the base Safe Speed presented in the chart below will exceed the maximum speed of the vehicle. This is intentional. It represents the vehicles ability to negotiate difficult conditions in relative safety. To determine the vehicles Maximum Safe Speed, multiply the vehicle types base Safe Speed by the modifiers for terrain and weather conditions used for Tactical Scale movement. This is done in the same way Tactical Scale movement rates are calculated. The value thus determined is the Vehicles Maximum Safe Speed for the prevailing conditions. If a vehicle not rated as Off-road Capable is operating offroad, it will have its base Safe Speed halved before it is modified to yield Maximum Safe Speed.
VEHICLE TYPE SAFE SPEEDS Vehicle Type Base Safe Speed WPh)
Biycle/Tricycle Motorbike Car, bus Truck, Recreational Vehicle Wheeled ATV Tracked ATV
8 60 80 90 100 120
TACTICAL TRAVEL
When vehicles are used for travel in Tactical Scale, the driver determines the speed at which the vehicle will travel. Consideration should be given to the terrain over which the travel is taking place, as this will affect the Maximum Safe Speed at which a vehicle can travel. The Gamesmaster may use the kph chosen by the driver to determine how far the characters will travel in an hour. If asudden change in terrain occurs and the driver cannot slow the vehicle in time, an accident may occur. In an attempt to avoid an accident, the
58
driver may Slam on the Brakes. This is defined as deceleration of more than 5 kph for each meter between the point where the driver can react and the danger. When Slamming on the Brakes the driver must make a Driving Skill BCS. For each 10 kph, or fraction thereof, over the speed which may be safely eliminated, the driver will receive a modification of -1 to his BCS. A successful BCS roll will allow a stop without incident. A failure will indicate an Accident. Eva is travelling on a Good Road at 100 kph. Rounding a curve she sees that the bridge is out. She is, at present, 15 meters from the yawning chasm. She could safely cut herspeed by 75 kph ( 1 5 meters at 5 kph per meter for 75 kph safe deceleration). This still leaves her travelling at 25 kph when she reaches the gap in the bridge. This gives her a -3 to her BCS (25kphllOkph for a modification of 2.5 or 3). With a BCS of 12 modified to 9, i f she rolls a 9 o r less, she will safely stop the vehicle. A roll of 10 or higher will indicate an Accident. This may or may not result in the vehicle hurtling over the edge depending on the type of Accident.
When the vehicle loses one or more Durability points. The BCS receives a negative modification equal to the Durability lost. 0 When the driver takes any damage. The BCS receives a negative modification equal to the damage taken by t h e driver.Remember t o i n c l u d e a n y B C S modifications due to the drivers condition if he is Wounded or Seriously Wounded. When the driver is killed or rendered uncounscious. In this case, the speed in kph is the percentage chance of an Accident. This should be checked on each Action Phase and is cumulative. Thus, a vehicle travelling at 20 kph would have a 20% chance of an Accident on the first Action Phase on which it was uncontrolled and a 40% chance on the second. Once it is determined that an Accident will occur, the Gamesmaster will roll 1DlOO and consult the table below. If he deems it appropriate, the Gamesmaster may add or subtract a value to the die roll which he feels reflects the danger, or lack thereof, in the specific situation.
0
CRASHES
If a vehicle crashes, a Crash Factor will becalculated.This is important in determining the results of the crash. The base Crash Factor is equal to the speed of the vehicle at the time of the crash in kph minusthecurrent Durabilityof the vehicletimes itsstructure minusthedriversSkill score in Driving Skill divided by 10 and rounded to the nearest, if he makes his BCS roll. In pseudo-mathematical terms this is [kph (Durability x Structure) - (Skill score/lO, nearest)]. The base Crash Factor is multiplied by the Terrain Danger Factor to yield the adjusted Crash Factor. If the terrain Danger Factor is 0 or less, the crash is reduced to the results equivalent to a die roll of 61-85 o n the Accident TypeTable. The Terrain Danger Factors are given on the chart below.
ACCIDENTS
Vehicle accidents can occur under any one of the circumstance slisted below. Thedriver of a vehicle may make a Driving Skill BCS in an attempt to avoid the accident. Movement, when in Tactical Scale, at a speed which exceeds the maximum safe speed for the terrain and weather conditions. A Driving Skill BCS roll must be made each hour. The drivers BCS receives a modification of -1 for each 5 kph, or fraction thereof, in excess of the maximum safe speed. When the terrain or weather conditions change to lower the maximum safe speed and the driver does not alter his speed to a safe level. The check for an accident should be made when this occurs. The BCS receives modifications as above. Slamming o n the Brakes and failing the BCS roll to stop safely. When the driver is attempting a high speed manuver. This is defined as any manuver at a speed which exceeds, in kph, the total of the drivers Deftness and Speed. The drivers BCS receives a modification of -1 for each 10 kph, or fraction thereof, by which the vehicles speed exceeds that value.
TERRAIN DANGER FACTORS

Good Road Poor Road Ruins Open Scrub/Rough Woods 1D3 minus 2 Hills 1 0 2 minus 1 Desert 1D10/2 Mountain 1D3 minus 2 Marsh 103 minus 1 Swamp 1D6/2 Forest *Retain fractions.
1D10/2 1D2 minus 1 2D6/2 1D2 minus 1 1D3 minus 1 1D10/2
ACCIDENT TYPE TABLE Die Result Type of Accident 01-20 The vehicle fishtails. No serious effect occurs. If
the vehicle does not have an active driver, it is subject to further accident possibilities as outlined in the last of the accident causing circumstances listed above. 21-60 The vehicle stalls. It will lose all motive power and move in a straight line decelerating at 5 kph per meter moved. Slick surfaces woul increase the distance to 1.5 meters and icy surfaces to 2 meters. The vehicle will lose 1D3 points of Durability. 61-85 Thevehiclespinsout. Itwillturntofacearandom direction (roll 1D6 and treat the hex which it normally would have entered as 1 and number clockwise from there). Thevehicle isthen treated as i f it had received a result as with a die roll of 21-60. 86-00 The vehicle crashes. See below.
The effects of the crash on the vehicle and the passengers are based on the adjusted Crash Factor. The Durabilityof thevehicle is reduced by the Adjusted Crash Factor. The adjusted Crash Factor is the number of six sided dice of damage taken by the passengers. This is C type damage unless the vehicles Durability has been reduced to 0 or less. If so, the damage is all lethal type damage. The adjusted Crash Factor is the percentage chance that the Fuel System will ignite if Petroleum, Hydrogen or Alcohol. If the Fuel System is Electric, the batteries will lose their charge. The adjusted Crash Factor becomes the chance in 20 that the batteries themselves will be ruined. If the Fuel System is ignited, the vehicle will burn. The fire will reduce Durability at a rate dependent on its type. Once the vehicle is totally destroyed, it will explode at the bookkeeping phase of the following Combat Turn. I f the vehicle was considered totally destroyed at the time of ignition, it is considered to have a pseudo-Durability that the fire will consume. This pseudo-Durability is equal to the result of 1D3. Explosions of vehicles are created as if the vehicle were a grenade. Any character still within a vehicle which explodes will be killed.
59
DURABILITY CONSUMPTION RATES O F FIRE AND EXPLOSIVE RATING Fuel System Rate Explosive
Petroleum Alcohol Hydrogen 1D3 per Combat Turn 1D2 per Combat Turn 1D2 minus 1 per Combat Turn
5/53
2/3
1/o
modification but would still be subject to a random determination as to whether the vehicle or a passenger is attacked. To determine if a passenger is attacked, dividethe number of characters in that portion of the vehicle by the result of multiplying .01 by the Area of the vehicle in that portion plus 1, rounded to the nearest. Sepp is firing at a stationary compact car. I t has an Area of 6, being 2 by 3 meters on the DAT display. He is firing at the front seat to try to get the driver. The Area of the front seat of the vehicle is 2. See the illustration. There are two men in the front seat. Thus, the calculated chance of attacking one of them is 2/(.01 (2 plus l)),nearest, or 66.6, or67%. x The Gamesmaster rolls lDl00 with a result of 35. Thus, one of the characters will be attacked. The Gamesmaster designates the driver as 1 and the other man as 2,and rolls 102 with a result of 2. The man next to the driver is hit. Once a character has been hit, the Gamesmaster should determine where he has been hit. Incoming missile attacks will be impeded by the Barrier Effect of any portion of the vehicle that gets in the way. This is left up to the Gamesmaster to decide (what is in the way) as the styling and variations possible in vehicles create a range fartogreat to even attempt to catalog. A guideline of Barrier Values is presented below, along with an illustration of the cover provided to a character seated in an automobile.
~~~~ ~~~~ ~ ~
VEHICLE SAFETY DEVICES AND THEIR EFFECTS

Various safety devices can reduce the effects of a crash with regard to the passengers. Escaping from such devices requires a conscious character or undistracted aid from another character, if the one restrained by the device is unconscious. SEAT BELTS cancel the effects of 1 point of adjusteci Crash Factor. It requires a Deftness Ability Saving throw to release them in 1 Action Phase. Otherwise, thecharacterwill be free in 2 Action Phases. A CRASH SUIT or BLAST BUFFERING will cancel the effects of 1 point of adjusted Crash Factor for each level of effect that the suit has. CRASH BAGS wil cancel the effects of 2D6 points of adjusted Crash Factor. They will deflate of their own accord in 3 Combat Turns. A character can escape in 1 Combat Turn with a Speed Critical Saving Throw. I f the characters roll was in his Ability Saving Throw range, it will take 2 Combat Turns. Otherwise, he must wait until they deflate. The AVERAGE ARMOR VALUE worn by a character will also have some effect. For each 2 points, round down, the effects of 1 point of adjusted Crash Factor will be cancelled.
BARRIER EFFECTS OF VEHICLES Material

Safety Glass window Light metal as in small cars
Barrier value
10 20 30 40
100
FIRING ON VEHICLES
Sooner or later, vehicles will be fired on. The resultsof this fire will depend on what is being fired and the nature of the target. Vehicular targets are placed in one of two categories: Hard or Soft. Hard targets are those vehicles which are armored against incoming fire, such as tanks and other combat vehicles. Soft targets are all those other vehicles whose tasks generally involve more peaceful pursuits.
Medium metal as in average cars and light truck bodies Heavy metal as in big cars and standard truck bodies Engine blocks
FIRING O N SOFT TARGETS

If a character is firing on a stationary target, he may choose which portion of the vehicle he is firing on. If it is a small part of the target such as a light, he should receive a significant negative modification to his BCS (about -10). A somewhat larger target such as a wheel or tire would have a smaller modifier (about -5). Gas tanks, as protected as they usually are, might require a Critical Hit. Other portions of a vehicle such as the drivers area (front seat, cab, etc.) and body (passenger seat, truck body, etc.) would not receive a If there are no characters in the portion attacked or if the characters are missed, the vehicle itself will beattacked. The Barrier Values will have their effects on incoming missile fire and the damage done will be counted against the vehicles Damage Resistance. As noted before, each time the Damage Resistance is exceeded the vehicle will lose 1 point of Durability. A Critical Hit when firing at a vehicle will attack thevehicle. It will also call for a roll on the Vehicle Critical Hit Table.
Hypothetical Cover Provided by a Compact Car.
r
60
, -
VEHICLE CRITICAL HIT TABLE (DlOO) (if moving, check for Accident)
Die
result Effect 01-20 No significant effects occur.
21-60 The vehicle receives an additional Durability loss of

1D6.
61-00 The vehicle receives the extra Durability loss as

above and receives the appropriate additional effect: 61-65 Steering loss occurs. The vehicle cannot be controlled. If moving, treat as an unconscious or killed driver. 66-70 The brake system is shot away. The vehicle cannot be decelerated if moving. 71-75 The vehicles electrical system is shot away.This will eliminate any lights the vehicle is using. 76-80 The driver is attacked. The firer will roll his base BCS. If the roll is successful, the driver receives a Critical Hit. If not, the driver receives a normal hit. 81-85 The vehicles engine has been hit. Treat the vehicle as if it had received an Accident result of 21 -60. It will not run until repaired. 86-95 The vehicles motive system (tires or what have you) has been hit. It will not run properly until repaired. If the vehicle is moving, check again for an Accident and add 10 to the die roll. 96-99 The Fuel System is attacked. The damage done is the percentage chance that the fuel will ignite or the batteries will discharge. If thevehicle is moving, treat also as if it had received an Accident result of 21-60.
Hit with a weapon rated for VDG will also cause this table to be checked. The adjusted VDG divided by 10 and rounded to the nearest is the number of points of Durability lost by the vehicle. In addition, a vehicle will receive damage from the VDG in the same way that a character receives damage from BDG. That is, theVDG is divided by 10 and rounded up; that is the number of DlOs that will be rolled. TheVDG divided by 10 and rounded to the nearest is the number of additional points of damage that will be added to the result of the DlOs rolled. If such damage indicates additional Durability loss, it occurs in the normal fashion. If the vehicle loses Durability due to a hit of this sort, the number of Durability points lost is the number of D6s of C type damage taken by each member of thecrew. The number is reduced in the same way as crash suits, blast buffering, and Average Armor Value reduce the effects of an adjusted Crash Factor. The Durability Loss is also the chance in 20 that the Fuel System will ignite or lose charge. Some fighting vehicles will have fire control systems which will reduce the chance by their rating.
00
The damage done is the percentage chance of immediate explosion of the Fuel System. If the explosion does not occur the Fuel will ignite. Otherwise treat as 96-99 above.
HARD TARGETS SPECIAL EFFECTS TABLE (D100) Die Result Effect 01-20 No significant effect occurs. 21-35 The shot was glancing. No direct Durability loss
occurs and damage done to the vehicle is cut in half. If this still results in a Durability loss, the loss due to damage will occur. 36-00 System loss detailed by the breakdown below: 3 6 4 5 A system (at the Gamesmasters discretion), other than one listed below, is knocked out. If no system is available, an additional loss of 1D6 Durability occurs. 46-55 Communications systems are knocked out. 56-60 The electrical system is knocked out. 61-65 The main armament is knocked out. 66-75 The motive system (treads, wheels, etc.) is knocked out. If moving, the vehicle will be treated as if it had received an Accident result of 21-60. 76-80 The power plant is knocked out. If moving, the vehicle will be treated as if it had received an Accident result of 21 -60. 81-85 The ammunition is hit. The adjusted VDG is multiplied by 2 to get the percentage chance of immediate explosion. 86-95 The Fuel System is hit. The basic chance of ignition is doubled. 96-00 The vehicles Fuel System is ignited or discharged. The adjusted VDG is the percentage chance of an immediate explosion. Explosions will add the explosive value of 1D10 rounds of the vehicles ammunition to the grenade effect of the
I f the vehicle is moving, certain of the above situations are altered. A character may not choose the portions of the vehicle at which he will fire. The chance of a character in the vehicle being hit is calculated using the Area of the whole vehicle instead of just the Area of the portion in which he is located. I f moving, the vehicle itself will have a Combat Dodge Ability to be used against incoming fire. This CDA has a value of 1 for each 10 kph of speed, or fraction thereof, at which the vehicle is traveling when the fire is resolved. Additionally, a driver may maneuver to increase this if he makes a Driving Skill BCS roll. Remember that if the vehicle is moving at what are considered high speeds for the driver, there will be a check for an Accident. If the driver makes his BCS roll to make the dodging maneuver, he will add a number to the CDAequal to his Driving Skill scoredivided by 10 and rounded down.
FIRING ON HARD TARGETS

Fire on a hard target with small arms or muscle-powered missile weapons will have no appreciable effect. Guns and weapons capable of destroying a hard target are rated by their VDG, or Vehicle Damage Group. TheVDG will be reduced bythevehicle ArmorValueof the target in the same way that a barrier reduces BDG. The adjusted VDG is the percentage chance that Hard Target Special Effects will occur. If this happens, the Gamesmaster will consult the Hard Target Special Effects Chart. A Critical
61
~-
~~
~~
~~~~
~~
vehicle's Fuel System. The blast value of 1 round is equal to the VDG of the round divided by 10 and rounded to the nearest. Moving hard targets get the same Combat Dodge Ability as soft targets. The character firing on a hard target may never choose which portion of the vehicle he is firing upon. The only exception to this is fire directed at an exposed or partially exposed character such as a tank commander standing in the turret hatch. Even small arms can be used for this kind of attack. If the Hit Location roll indicated that the portion of the target that IShit is covered by the vehicle, the vehicle will be attacked instead. This means that small arms will have no effect. Weapons rated for VDG will always attack the vehicle. There is no need to check to see if a character is attacked. A successful attack on the vehicle that penetrates its armor will automatically attack the crew. If a weapon rated for VDG fires on a soft target, treat the target as if it had a Vehicle Armor Value of 2 Vehicle-level armor is rated on a scale similar'to that used for the armor worn by the characters. Materials have the same rating but are much heavier, thicker, denser, etc. If non-VDG-rated weapons are used against them they have an effective Armor Value of 10 times the rating of the material when used by a character, and will act as a Barrier. As you will see, this effectively stops most rounds not rated as antivehicle.
REPAIRING VEHICLES
A character with the proper Repair Skill may repair vehicles. Each point of Durability isaTask. TheTaskValue is equal to the vehicle's Damage Resistance. It requires 1 unit of partsfor each Durability point. A Disrepaired vehicle of the same type will yield 2D3 units and a Junked vehiclewill yield 1D3 units. If a particular system has been destroyed, the Task Value is triple the Damage Resistanceand it will require 2D6 units of specific parts in order to make the system function again. Repairing a system is a separate Task from repairing the vehicle's Durability. The Task Period is a day.
ANTI-VEHICLE AMMUNITION Infantry weapons Tank or APC rounds VDG Recoilless Rifle Round
152mm HEAT 120mm APDS 105mm HEAT 105mm APDS 90mmHEAT 30mm AP 20mm AP 51 55 48 44 42 12 9 Round 106mm 90mm Machine gun with AP ammo LAW
Artillery Rounds
VDG
50 40
Round 105mmHEAT Non-HEAT Non-AP
VDG
15 Treat as exdosions to exposed crew. Vehicle takes VDG hit of 1/2 explosion s t r e n g t h at i t s range from the ground zero.
BDG x .01 x Rate Factor BDG x .02 x RF

36 33
3.5 " Bazooka
40mm Grenade Launcher 6 HEAT receives -10 when rolling for Hard Target Special Effects. HE/HESH (artillery rounds) receive a -20. AP and APDS rounds lose 1 point of VDG per 100 meters of range. They add 5 under 100 meters and add 10 under 50 meters.
ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILES

Range (m) Type Cobra Swingfire TOW TOW(imp) HOT Shillelagh MILAN Dragon
BCS modification of ranges to*

300m -
VDG
60 60 90 90 90 90 60 60
Min. 400 150 65 65 75
Max. 2000 4000 3000 4550 4000 5500 2000 1000
500m -8/-9 -51-6
lOOOm -6/-8
1500m -2
Max.
-a/-9
-2
-2
+O +O
-2
-5
aoo
25 65
-5 -2/-5
+O
+O/-2
+O +O +O +O +O +O
+0/-5
+O +O +O +O +O +O
-
+O +O +O
-1 -1
Into or through cover -50% of base BCS Into or through smoke -50% of base BCS Remote control unit in use -2 to BCS 'stationary/moving
+o
-1 -
_ I
SURVIVAL
In between fighting for their lives, characters i n the Aftermath need to eat, just likeeverybody else. Besides fresh ammo, they need to procure clothes, shoes, and so on. How do they go about this? the farming communities, but stop to consider this: Without access to high-technology agricultural materials and equipment, the average yield of crops and the raising of food beasts is going to decline. After the first few waves of starving city refugees hit the rural areas, thefarmersaregoing tostart meeting any strangers with rifles and shotguns.
EATING
The first thing to go in urban areas after a general collapse will be food. Unlike rural locales, which can become selfsupporting in such matters, the city provides no arable acreage, at least not without some lengthy preparations. The city survivor has several options: He can hunt. Since AHefmafh! generally assumes a few decades between the Ruin and the start of play, there will be game present in the urban environment. And, as the inhabitants of any wartime city would tell you, some game abounds from the start. Rattus Rattus Norvegicus, the Black Norway Rat, is edible, even nourishing, and has long been known as a staple for starving civic populations. During the last year of WWII, the city of Berlin was almost 100%de-ratted, as the people eked out their sub-starvation level rations by hunting the grey residents of their sewers and walls. Man, backed into a survival corner, still seems able to make a cornered rat look like a day-old kitten when it comes to savage survival potential. Cats, dogs, pigeons, and the other passengers on the citys bounty would also become fair game.
QUANTIFYING THE DAYS TAKE

A party of Characters running out of food may opt to hunt, fish (if a body of water is present), or forage for their food. This posits that they do not havean Encounterwith anything edible. Their locale will affect the take on Hunting. Hunting BCS Modifier -3 Effect Die Modifier -1 Group
Terrain Type City, ruined or built up Open rural (Plains, Farmland) Forest, Woods, Foothills Mountains, Desert
-1
No change
+1 Group
+2
+1
No change
a The average city can feed its full population for only a day or two on stored, preserved foods. But if war or disaster has eliminated most of that population, the situation is altered. As long as food stocks last, they will feed the survivors. In this as in much of Affermafhl we have made a basic assumption about packaging. We are not far from developing commercial packing techniques for edibles that will last indefinitely. Chemically inert plastic containers, 100% effective sterilization techniques for preserved food, freeze-drying , effective vacuu m-pac king, all would produce a stored treasury of foodstuffs that would be edible after centuries. So, just as they search for guns, ammo, machinery, and So on, the characters can scavenge food, luxuries like tobacco and liquor, and such necessities as medical supplies and drugs. Positing that the increased need to save energy and prevent waste during the pre-Ruin years leads to a highly developed technology of storage and preservation, the extrapolation is not outrageous.
.Besides doctrinal Hunting and Fishing, using the appropriate Skills, or using Survival Skill to feed oneself on a day-to-day basis, the character may be able to eat such beings as come out on the short end of afight. In the Animal descriptions in Book 3, we give figures as to the edible portionsof the larger creatures that characters may encounter. That lion you shot in Central Park may also keep you fed for a couple of days.
Fishing is unaffected by the type of environment. Lake, river, stream, or ocean, the differences tend t o even out in the long run. Foraging is campaign dependent. Book 3 covers the basic Foraging rules, and the Gamesmaster will set up the actual situations. Of course, finding a community or even an individual or small group with food to spare can also feed the characters. Depending on their ethics, they may try to take the supplies or they may engage in a Bartering session, either of which is played out on the spot, rather than being handled on a fixed doctrinal basis. Small groups of wanderers are not likely to trade food, nor are communities that have to scrounge it themselves. Farming communities, or groups with large stockpiles of preserved goods, may very well be into trading food for other goods, if the characters comport themselves properly. OPTION Hunting Out an Area The Gamesmaster may choose to decree that the area chosen for hunting operations will tend to get sparser if it is used constantly. For everyday after their first that characters stay put in one locale, hunting, reduce the BCS used by 103. It will take a 10 km move to get into new territory, where the game has become less wary.
TYPES OF FOODSTUFFS
For purposes of calculating bulk, there are several broad classifications of edibles. Natural Foods (1 BP/Ration): Enough t o keep a man going for 1 day at full efficiency bulks 1 ENC. These are fresh (relatively) animal foods, grain or grain products, or vegetables. Preserved Natural Foods (2 BP/Ration): Dried meat, vegetables, hard-breads (the jerky, gorp, and hardtack of the backpacker) run to .7ENC per days rations per man.
In the country, the same options are available to the hungry character. The game is more plentiful, and there will be fewer stores of packaged foods to raid, unless one goes bandit, hitting farm communities for supplies. Fresh agricultural products and animal foods will be available in
63
Packaged Foods (5 BPhation): The standard food

containers of the pre-Ruin. Canned or vacuum-packed goods. A days rations bulks .5 ENC
Freeze-Dried Foods (10 BP/Ration): The LURPs of

military issue, campers foods, trail rations. Dried and packed in a vacuum at freezing temperatures, these will keep for up to 5 years with modern, imperfect packaging techniques. Picture their life-span with the posited superpackaging systems we spoke of. Requiring water and sometimes heat t o be reconstituted, these compact rations Encumber one .3 per days eating.
Super-K Rations (15 BPIRation): The ultimate in

preserved nutrition. Developed from formulae used in the space program, these squeeze-tube-held pastes provide a full days rations from a quantity bulking only .25 ENC. They are not the most appetizing meal in the world, but then things are rough all over. All of the above are assumed to provide a sufficiently balanced diet t o prevent rickets, beriberi, scurvy, etc., etc. Gamesmasters with a more rigorous background in dietetics may provide for deficiency diseases, but frankly, the world of Aftermath! is hostile enough without that.
exceeds his safe period of total fastina Since he is eating nothing, he suffers a Group 2 effect, taking a D6 of Advance up his Health. A 2 is rolled, so Frank is still unaffected (but very hungry). Three days later he is doing very poorly. Day8 gave thestarvation a Group of 4 (twice the previous days Group, a 2). He took 206 of Advance, scoring 8 for a total o f 10. The next day, a Group of 8 hit him. He rolls a 5,the minimum possible score o n 2D10+3, which slams him over his Health CST, and totals 15 points against his Health. Any more loss will put him into Full Fatigue. But he catches a rat, providing half a days rations. So on day 10, the Group is only 1 higher than on day 9,for a Group of 9. Rolling 2010+4, he takes an Advance o f 10, totalling 25.He is Fully Fatigued but not dead yet. Desperately ploughing through a deserted, rubble-filled storefront, he finds a case of 12 packets of Packaged Food, each providing a days ration. He starts eating again. He recovers 4 points of Advance per day, and will throw off the Starvation completely when he has reduced i t past 10. This will take 4 days, since his Healing Rate is 4, and that takes the Advance back to 9 points, whereupon i t goes away. Close, but if the character can procure food, or be fed if he is unable to forage for himself, Starvation isquickly reduced. Special medical preparations, using Advanced Medical Skill, can accelerate this process: a glucose drip bottle, feeding the character by intravenous needle, will add 1 to his Healing Rate when recovering from Starvation, and add 2 to it if the doctor makes his BCS in theskill. High-energyfoods will add 1 to the rate of recovery, as will certain drugs i f they are used in conjunction with proper eating.
STARVATION
A character can go on half rations for a number of days equal to twice his Healing Rate before it really starts to slow him down. He can go without food for a period equal to the Healing Rate on the same terms. After that, he will start to starve. Starvation acts like a Disease in some ways. It has a base Virulence of 1 on the first day after the safe period is over if on half rations. It has twice that if fasting completely. Each subsequent day of half-starving will add 1 to the Virulence Group. If the character is not eating at all, each day doubles the Group. Starvation advances up HLH. When the advance exceeds the HealthCST, the victim is in a permanent state of Partial Fatigue. When the AST is exceeded, this becomes Full Fatigue. When the Health is exceeded, the character passes out. He will die in a number of hours equal to his Health Group Effect Die roll. Getting a days rations into the victim will arrest the process at any time. For each day of proper eating, the character will reduce the Advance by his Healing Rate. Once it is restored t o a point past his Health AST, the episode is over, the rest of the Advance simply goes away, and if necessary the character could go on short rations again. Going off full rations before reaching this point starts the Advance from the point reached in the healing process, at whatever initial Virulence is appropriate forthe new level of intake (Le., half rations or no food). During the Incubation period before Starvation starts its advance, should the character go from half rations to no food, his safe period becomes his Healing Rate. Should he do the reverse, his safe period would become twice his Healing Rate. If hesuffersthe reduction in period after he has been on short rations for more days than his Healing Rate, he starts to starve at once. If, during this time, he eats halfrations, then that days Virulence Group is increased by 1 over the previous days. If he fasts the next day, then the Group doubles, based on the adjusted Group.
Frank, with a Health of 30 (Healing Rate ofrl), has three days Rations. Sensing that things are getting tight, he parcels this out to last for 6 days, going on half rations. H e was right: there is nothing to be found that is even remotely edible. On half rations, he can go for8 days (2 x Healing Rate, which is 4). But on day 7 he can eat nothing (nothing is left), so he starts to starve then, as i t
WATER
The need for Water is handled much like that for Food. At random, when characters state they are looking for water, the Gamesmaster may require that they spend an hour doing so. This requires no BCS or Saving Throw, but will allow them to find any local source of freelv available water (or other liquid that will do the job). If this fails, there may yet be water available, but it is a Task requiring the use of the appropriate Survival Skill to find. The Gamesmaster will set the Task Points needed, and the Task Period is set by the terrain type. The chances of locating Water are given on the following Table.
Water Findable Free by Survival No Chanceof Terrain Type Water Skill BCS Water Contamination City (Intact) 1-4 6-9 0 30O/o City (Rubbled) 1-3 4-8 9-0 50%. Open Rural 1-6 7-0 05%
Forest, Woods, Hills 1-7 Desert Swamp
8-0
2-6
7-0
10%
1 1-0
10%
80%
Free Water: Defined as a noticeable supply of apparently

drinkable water.
Water Findable by Survival Skill: May require digging for a

spring, locating an old cistern, finding a case of sealed water bottles, etc.
No Water: There is no water to find within a 5 km radius. Contamination: Drunk without purification processes, the
water will carry some disease. Boiling will allow a reroll of
ti4
the Chance percentage. If the die roll is greater than half the original percentage, the water has been purified (although characters will not know this without some testing gear). The Super Halzone tablets in the Equipment section will eliminate any contamination. Obviously, if the characters are next to a river or stream on the Game Map, they do not need t o worry about finding water. The Gamesmaster can apply his judgement i n the matter. If it has been raining for two days, there will be plentiful water available. Assume that an unlimited supply of water exists when it can be found at all.
will infect us. Fish is quite safe for humans to eat raw: it is not at all like human tissue. Pork, a very close twin of our own structure, requires extensive cooking to eat safely. Therefore, human meat will be a risky dish for human consumption. It is an ugly question, but it must be dealt with by each Campaign. Who goes Ghoul, and what does it cost him in mind and soul?
SURVIVAL SKILL
Whenever faced with a survival problem (this includes dead cities), the character can always be given a last-ditch solution by making his Survival Skill BCS. The Gamesmaster will be the final a r b k r o f what applications are permitted this Skill, but we offer these possibilities:
0 0 0
THIRST
Anyone with a background that includes getting lost in the wild will tell you-thirst kills you faster than hunger. The mimimum daily ration of water is 1 liter (1 quart) per day. If fresh food is plentifully available, we can assume that about half of that will be obtained from the water content of fruits and vegetables, or animals juices. The Safe Period for Thirst is equal to the Healing Rate on less than full rations. It is only 1 day if no water is available. Thirst kills just as Starvation does, but allvalues for its Advance are doubled. In effect, Thirst is Starvation with a WDM of 2! However, if a character at any point in dying of Thirst can get a liter of water into him, all effects of the Thirst are wiped out immediately.
Find 1 days food of some sort. Find a liter of water somewhere. Survive the effects 3f exposure for 1 night. Get a fire started in 60 minutes a Wit Group Effect Die roll. Get a compass bearing. Generate a signal visible/audible for a radius of kilometers equal to the Effect Die roll.
0 0 0
ABOUT CANNIBALlSM
We might as well get this problem out in the open. It is highly likely that humans driven to the wall by hunger in the collapse of their civilization will turn to cannibalism. It has happened in less widespread disaster situations, and there is no logical reason to suppose it wont happen in the Aftermath. Players and Gamesmasters must discuss such things until a mutually satisfactory answer is found. In Playtesting, the universal response has been a preference for starvation. Several Players designed Characters who killed cannibals on sight, or upon first learning of their diet. The usual reason was a Character History that included losing loved ones to the roving Ghoul gangs, the slang nomenclature we used to designate cannibals. Our own feeling is that the impact upon a human being who turns to eating his own kind for food will be such that he will tend to lose much of his humanity, becoming a predator by nature and a ravening threat to his fellows. The overall ethos of the survivor communes and wanderers in the playtest Campaign was that Ghouls, as their nickname implied, had become a form of monster, set in eternal enmity with the rest of the race. In the Bibliography, we recommend several novels that deal with the cannibal problem in an aftermath. It is acentral plot element in Lucifers Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, and also appears in such works as Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys, A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller, and numerous works of Post-Holocaust fiction. On the pragmatic side, we give the nutrifive values of human flesh on the Tables in Book 3.We would like t o point out that the closer a food animal is t o our own cell structure, the more likely its meat is to carry germs or parasites which
The ex-Boy Scouts or Green Berets among our readers will doubtless have other ideas along these lines. Only one attempt per day to accomplish one of these things is permitted, although each of them can be tried during that day. This is used when there has been no other means of doing the desired thing found: Le., the Hunter who blows his Hunting BCS can still get enough to feed 1 man by making his Survival BCS. Whether he will share it with his buddiesor gobble it down himself is up to the Player.
WEATHER
We do not deal with Weather much. Since the ideal Affermathf campaign is in the Gamesmasters home territory, he knows better than we what theclimate is like. An all-embracing weather rule that fits the Middle Atlantic states, where we are writing this, will freeze characters in the ruins of Miami, but leave the survivors of the Fall of Toronto in shirt-sleeve comfort. Unless you are in Death Valley, great heat is not really a problem. The blanket rules for hot climate can be summed up as requiring a Survival BCS each day, or else the character needs twice as much water that day. Cold weather will not bother characters warmly dressed (quilted cloth over half their bodies, and at least light cloth everywhere else). Gamesmasters setting an adventure in arctic conditions can require special clothes, likewise those having characters assault mountain peaks. Characters not dressed for winter will suffer from Exposure. They are always Partially Fatigued when in the cold for over 10 minutes times Healing Rate. If forced to spend the night exposed t o the elements, they must use Survival Skill to protect themselves, or risk catching Pneumonia, which is described in the Gamesmasters rule book under Sample Diseases. If Climate is a more central element of your Campaign, you will have to elaborate on these foundations for yourself.
65
PLAYER CHARACTERS AMONG THE RUINS

We have discussed the mechanics of designing a Player Character in some detail, and have directed general comment at less quantifiable aspects of such design: putting on the characters mask, or thinking with his head. But what specific guidelines can we give you for running a character in Aftermath!, the game set in a world where all the old rules died with the civilization that spawned them. By now, it is probably crystal clear to most of you that an Aftermath! campaign can get pretty sickening, if you follow some of the implications of world collapse to their logical conclusions. How do you keep the campaign from degenerating into a mindless series of gunfights between ruthlessly amoral Player and Non-Player Characters? It is all very well to say it is the Gamesmasters job. But that poor jerk has an awful lot on his mind already, and in this area especially the full cooperation of the Players is necessary to keep things alive. When the campaign is getting off the ground, perhaps after the first few scenarios, when people are getting comfortable with the rules, a session discussing the state of the world and looking at possible goals for Player Characters is in order. What is the known state of the country? I Europe still alive, s or Asia? Are the characters lone wolves, fighting just to survive, or are they part of a community, struggling to keep a spark of the old civilization burning, or to bring the seeds of a new tomorrow to fruition? The answers to these questions provide the foundations for ongoing character motivation in the campaign. On a more personal level, Players should consider the following: You were 24 years old when the Ruin fell, and slammed mankind back intoasecond Dark Age. Nowyouaregoing on 50. You used to think of yourself as a decent kind of person. Since things fell apart you have done some things to survive that dont bear thinking of. You face a giant dilemma every day you decide to stay alive: do you throw every ethic you ever held dear overboard, or is there some basic code of behavior that is going t o keep you sane and human through all this? We have seenOldsters, characters who were adult by the time of the Ruin, draw weapons on fellow Player Characters when confronted by some act their Players had decided was intolerable to the character. Scene: A dark room, the inner chambers of a great museum, now a tomb dating back two and a half decades. A party of schoolchildren died here, caught by the disaster that killed a world. A group of people move carefully around the corner, holding makeshift torches. Two of the younger members see the tiny, half-mummified corpses. Check em out for good stuff. The pair starts to move in. The snick of the safety catch I seems awfully loud in the still, marble room. dont expect you fellas to understand this, but i f you damn ghouls touch those kids, Im going to kill you. The quiet conviction in the rasping, age-husky voice freezes the two in their tracks. A w, Chipper, you got some crazy ideas, complains one of them. But they back up, very slowly, and with their hands held well clear of their own holsters. Theyve seen the old man march a stream of slugs from that rifle up a mans chest and into his face, firing at 100 yards. H e is barely 10 feet away. As the tension subsides, the party moves on. The glimmering torchlight fades, and the brief disturbance sinks into the uncomplaining forgetfulness that is the special hallmark of the dead. The Player who built Chip, or Chipper as his associates call him, has built asolid, righteoussoutherner, holding on to his humanity in thesavage world of the Ruin by dint of a basic code of ethics. Rolling the bodies of dead children violates that code, to the disgust of the characters with less restraint. On the flip side, an interesting juxtaposition exists in the playtest campaign. One of Chips current companions is Tater, who is a couple of years younger than the rifleman. Tater ran with the Pagans (an East Coast counterpart to Hells Angels). He is a cycle freak, a graying biker in a world without cops. When things fell apart, we shudder to think of what Tater must have done. He is a vicious gangster. It is a safe bet that he lived by preying on those less lethal than himself. He appreciates the survival value of the group that operates about Chip, but our Gamesmaster suspicions see a showdown when the almost inevitable time comes that Tater tries to pull something that Chipper will not stand for. These two cases sketch the process by which widely variant Player characters can evolve and interact in Aftermath! Initially, the Player who runs Chip decided to build a stereotypical redneck, charter member of the NRA, outdoorsman, afficionado of good homebrew. As Chip has developed through the cenarios, he has emerged as a rock solid survivor, staying alive as much by his cunning as a tactician as by his accuracy with a rifle, and emerging from the maelstrom of the Ruin with a deep-seated sense of decency that may get him killed but has saved an awful lot of lives along the way. Tater has demonstrated a valuable lesson to the Players. He is an essentially sterile character, for all his ruthless survival talent, and the other Player characters, including some controlled by the same Player, trust him like lions trust jackals.
WHEN TIME IS OUT OF JOINT

While the main thrust of Aftermath! posits a campaign set 20-30 years after the Ruin, this is not a solid limit. We have experimented in the playtest with a 200 Years After campaign. Lost is the sense of immediacy, and thesimplicity of dealing with technological material when everyone is assumed to be moderately familiar with it. Some items, like firearms, will probably remain fairly common, although the Muzzle Loaders are likely to replace the modern weapons as they break down, and ammo runs out. But the products of industrial chemistry, the manufactured goods, and all the powered equipment, might slowly become the magic of the new primitives. While isolated enclaves may preserve theold knowledge, most communities will be in a state of neobarbarism, poised at the beginnning of the climb back to civilization. The characterizations in such campaigns may operate on a different level than those in the First Generation system. You are Vinz of Twobomz Valley. The raid on the Horz People was a great success and Rik, Warchief of the Horned Riders, the finest warrior-clan in all the Bul people, called you Brave Lance! But in the midst o f all the fighting, your foolish mind, that got you all those beatings from Rojur when he tried to pound the sagas into you, kept asking, Why do we always fight the other tribes? It is hard to ask such questions. A l l men know we fight to keep the land that is ours. We fight because all who are not of our blood, our lineage, are enemies. So has i t always been,
66
since the Blast came and made the World-As-lt-Is. The Shamen say it, and they are wise and MUST be right! But when others die, their blood is just the same as ours, although their skins are pale and mine is dark. Are they not then of our blood? Why does my head hurt with asking things i t cannot answer? Ishall go upon a Travelling to the old, dead GodCities, the places of Those- Who- Were-Before- The-Blast. Maybe there, Iwill find out why men must fight those who are strangers, and how i t was in the Old Times. Surely THEY did not do such things. First Generation campaigns lack something that is central to a setting in the farther future: legends. The old legends are dead, buried in the rubble of the fallen civilization. The new legends are not yet formed, for the exploits of the Player-Characters are the proto-legends o f the new world! This is the Age of Heroes which will fuel the campfire speech of the characters great-grandchildren. Eminent scholars among their many-times-great-great grandchildren will seek the truth behind their myth of Chi-per, the Bul Peoples God of Righteousness and Justice, He Who Strikes the Hearts and Eyes of the Evil Ones. The potential richness of the campaign is so great i n both types of setting that whatever decision the Gamesmaster makes, we feel that Players will find many and varied origins which they may ascribe to their characters, promoting a realistic diversity in the personalities in the campaign. Vinz demonstrates one particular approach to what we have perceived as the most rewarding motivation in an Aftermath! campaign: the promise of new birth.
You are Bill Ericson. Once, ten years o r ten lifetimes ago, you were a salesman with a wife, a daughter, a few dreams. But that was before the Martians came back, just as they did around the turn of the century, the way Wells history tells it. Only this time they won. The Earth is a shattered slave-planet, ruled by the octopoidal aliens and their human Quislings. They took away all you had: a wife who burned in their heat ray three steps from the culvert that saved your life; a little girl who died asking for a drink of water that you didnt have, a little water to cool the fever born of the Mars-bred virus that was killing her. If i t is all I do before Ijoin them, i f there was any mercy left by God before he went away, just let me hurt the damned monsters once! you cry.
THE CHARACTERS 81 THE PROMISE

In most Role Playing Games, the Player Character is as much the misfit as he is the hero. He has forsaken growing old by his hearth for the life of one driven by some consuming desire; glory, an ideal or crusade, revenge, wealth, whatever. The classic definition of the hero includes the willing acceptance of moira, a Greek term roughly meaning fate, karma, or doom. Young Achilles, offered a choice between a long, honorable, but uneventful life, and a short, glorious career, unhesitatingly chose the latter. In Homers Iliad, he is the premier warrior of the Greeks, unstoppable in his rage, but foredoomed to die, his heroic invulnerability flawed at the Achilles Heel, where a poisoned arrow cuts short his glorious life. The majority of Player Characters in Aftermath! have tended to undertake the heartbreaking task of supporting the rebuilding of a new civilization on the ashes of the old. Frail scientists have mastered fighting skills to preserve their knowledge for the young ones in their group. The Kids often show a superstitious awe of this Old Knowledge,and the foundations for Vinzs Shamen are laid. Even if they die without fulfilling their dream, the Promise is passed on, to slumber in embryo, until a young warrior asks how Others can be so different if they bleed the same blood as he himself does. There are the flawed heroes too, Player or Non-Player Characters who failed to learn the lesson of the Ruin. They husband the resources of technology to rule by force, by inspiring superstitious fear of the magic of science. Ruthlessly they turn their knowledge into new ways t o destroy, rather than a means of rebuilding the results of their civilizations own propensity for such abuse. Currently, these positions are held by Non-Player Characters in the campaign, usually at enmity with the Players. But given time and resources, there are Player Characters who would overthrow them only to replace them with tyrannies of their own. Other types of campaign may pose their own obstacles to the Promise. It is not necessarily going to be by our own efforts that the Ruin strikes. We may have help.
There is nothing uplifting about Ericsons pain. It will torment the character as long as he cares to keep on living. But it is a driving force that can impel him to rise above the normal limits of human endeavor to drive the Martians from the planet, and echoed in the agony of spirit of a legion of those whose lives were blasted by the invasion, it welds a bond of action that is more frightening than all the polished drill of more conventional armies. On the other side of the coin, imagine the potentials in playing a party of Quislings, out to extend the rule of their extraterrestrial masters. As with the despicable Tater, this choice may lead to things the Players might have preferred to leave undone. But again, the motivations and reactions of such characters provide a fascinating contrast for garners who tire of the Me Good Hero/Rotten Villain roles that can stultify a Role Playing Game. No matter what period of the Aftermath is chosen, and no matter what particular kind of Ruin caused it, thecharacters relationship to the Promise is a central pole of his personality. He may embrace it, oppose it, even twist it to his own ends, but he cannot ignore it.
67
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
We think enough grist has been provided for the mill in terms of things to consider in building the characters personality. Now how about playing the game? The general caveats to garners in Book 1 speak to the overall task. Familiarize yourself with the rules enough to be able to flow in a fight, or any other common situation, without constant hesitation or rule-questioning. If the Players find something really unplayable, offensive, or just loathesome for indefinable reasons, they should let the Gamesmaster know it. If they want to expand on some ideas, the same applies. Remember several things:
0 Nobody
is an expert in everything. It is blatantly unfair and rude to snarl at the Gamesmaster or another Player because he makes a slip in working with some area you have expertise in. Expect the same courtesy from them that you give.
Likewise, no simulation can cover every detail of a complex process, or foresee all the eventualities of a situation. The rules here areour approach to the problem. Our system is designed to allow the maximum flexibility in adapting the probabilities to fit the vicissitudes of real life. Take advantage of this by really playing the role, thinking terms of real actions, rather than trying to break everything down into the abstract math of scores and points. If you want to be a hero (and in this hobby, who doesnt?) then, by the glory, be a hero! Take risks, accept the challenge of the short life but the glorious one. You may not die in bed, but really, did you want to? good test of the quality of play in a campaign is this: if you wrote out a log of an adventure in decent narrative form, would it make good adventure fiction? In some scenarios, admittedly, everything seems to go stale. The encounters fall into a rut, nobody can seem to stay in character, rules get blown, tempers fray, nothing happens or everything happens wrong. Take a deep
. A
breath and chalk it up to experience. When it all goes right, just ask yourself this: how worried was I? When that last sword blow knocked me to within a hair of death, and then I had to beat that guard to the draw, did the gooseflesh rise, did the back of the neck chill at the vicarious breath of the dark angel? If you can say yes, even if only fora moment, then you should be enjoying the blazes out of things! For the first, the very first little old character you build in Affermathl, try this on for size. Assume civilization collapses tomorrow. Decide what you would do. What Attributes would you cultivate and what would you let go? What new Skills would you acquire and what old ones would you increase? Develop the basic character design along these lines. Then ask yourself how would you survive? What attitudes would you adopt? DO you just watch out for Numberone, orareyou willing togive your heart to the Promise? Could you go Ghoul in a final extremity, or would you kill cannibals on sight? Can you trust anyone? Or is the world forever a hostile environment? Put yourself in the characters shoes and play your story in the Aftermath! We think you will be surprised by the intensity of identification this idealized self-character will get from you. The immediacy and impact of play is immeasurably increased. And if and when your luck runs out, or you make your last mistake, the impact of the loss is as thrilling as it is poignant. It hurts, but the final question is put to you: did he die accepting hismoira? Was the hero true to the last? And if you have put yourself into the play wholeheartedly, then the answer you get back makes it all worthwhile. The Gamesmasters Book contains the various facets of different types of campaigns. He will inform you of the basic assumptions of your particular system. But without a creative response to equal his own labors, the thing will not take off. Meet him halfway, and the hours of enjoyment can be endless.
68
APENDIX 1 CHARACTER GENERATION CHECKLIST

1. Determine Age Group and note information due to it on CRS. 2. Determine actual age. 3. Determine psychological profile. 4. Distribute 15 + 206 points among the Talents. 5. Distribute 75 points among the Attributes. 6. Determine which Skills the character has for initial scores. 7. Determine the initial scores and Off-Hand Dexterity. 8. Apply the effects of Age, "Changed" status and Attribute Increase points. 9. Determine the character's Physical Characteristics. 10. Determine base clothing. 11. Determine the character's armor. 12. Determine the character's equipment. 13. Calculate Encumbrance Total. 14. Calculate Abilities, Basic Chance of Success scores and base Recognition Factor. 15. Inform the Gamesmaster that you are ready to play.
APPENDIX 2 SKILLS LIST

May have initial equipment Always requires tools or weapons Sometimes requires or uses tools or weapons Has an "averaging" function
SKILL COST INITIAL SCORE FORMAT COMBAT SKILLS, HTH ' * Brawling 1 STR + DFT + Combative 3 1 SPD + DFT + Combative Fencing 3 1 DFT + STR + Combative Flexible Weapon 3 Knife 1 DFT + SPD + Combative 3 1 STR + DFT + Combative Longsword 3 Nunchaku 1 DFT + STR + Combative 3 1 STR + DFT + Combative Palearm 3 Sai 1 DFT + STR + Combative 3 1 STR + DFT + Combative Single Weapon 3 1 DFT + STR + Combative Tonfa 3 1 STR + DFT + Combative Two Weapon 3 Unarmed Combat 1 DFT + SPD + Combative 3 1 STR + DFT + Combative Weapon and Shield 3 MUSCLE POWERED MISSILE WEAPONS * Archery 2 DFT + WT + Combative Blowgun 2 HLH + WT + Combative Bola 2 DFT + WT + Combative Crossbow 2 DFT + WT + Combative Sling 2 DFT + WT + Combative Slingshot 2 DFT + WT + Combative Throwing 2 DFT + WT + Combative SMALL ARMS 1 * Pistol, Modern 3 DFT + WT +Combative Pistol, Primitive 3 DFT + WT +Combative 3 DFT + WT + Combative Rifle, Modern 3 DFT + WT + Combative Rifle, Primitive SUPPORT WEAPONS * Autoweapon 4 DFT + WT + Combative DFT + WT + Combative Breech Loading Artillery 4 4 DFT + WT + Combative Direct Fire Cannon 4 DFT + WT + Combative Grenade Launcher Missile Launcher 4 DFT + WT + Combative (Technology Use) Mortar 4 DFT + WT + Combative Muzzle Loading Artillery 4 DFT + WT + Combative DFT + WT + Combative Primitive Seige Engines 4 NON-TECHNICAL, PHYSICAL SKILLS Beast Riding4 1 WL + DFT + Nature 1 1 DFT + STR + Mechanical Bicycle Riding 2 1 1 STR + WT + Natural Boating 1 1 STR + DFT + Natural Climbing 3 1 1 DFT + WT + Natural Fishing 3 2 (Trap/Hook) Gambling 1 DFT + WT + Charismatic 1 1 DFT + WT + Talent Handicraft (specify) 5 1 Seamanship 1 HLH + DFT + Natural 1 Survival (specify) 3 1 HLH + WL + Natural 1
SKILL
COST
INITIAL SCORE
HLH + STR + Natural WT + Natural + Natural DFT + WT + Natural WT + WT + Natural DFT + WT + Natural
FORMAT
1 2 2 2 2
Swimming 1 Tracking 1 Hunting 1 Search 1 Stealth 1 KNOWLEDOES Advanced Farming 2 (Dirt Farming) 2 2 Bowyer 2 Carpentry 1 Commerce 2 0 Culture Dirt Farmlng * 1 Fermentation * 2 Foreign Language (specify)
(Urban/Rurrl) (Trap/Shoot) (Urban/Rural) (Urban/Rural)
WT + DFT + Natural 1 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 WL + WT + Charismatic 1 WT + Communicative +Esthetic 2 (Pre/Post Ruin) HLH + DFT + Natural 1 WT + Natural + Natural 1
2 (Spoken/Written)
1 WT + WL +Communicative
3 WL + WT + Charismatic Interrogation 8 Leatherworking 2 2 DFT + WT + Esthetic 1 WT + WT + Communicative Literacy (specify) 1 DFT + DFT + Mechanical Masonry 3 Nutritionist 2 WT + Scientific + Natural Repair, Muscle powered vehicles (Carpentry) 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical Salvage Food 2 WT + DFT + Scientific (Nutritionist) Tactics 2 WT + Combative+ Comm Tailor 2 1 DFT + DFT + Esthetic 1 DFT + WT + Esthetic Weaver/Spinner 2 TECHNICAL, PHYSICAL SKILLS Automobile Driving 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) Basic Research 3 1 WT + WT + Scientific Heavy Equipment Driving'2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) 1 DFT + WT + Mechanical Lab Technique 2 (Technology Use) Lockpicking I 2 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical Magnalock Penetration' 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) Motorcycle Driving 2 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) Powerboat Pilot 2 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) Technology Use 2 1 DFT + WT + Mechanical
1 1 1
1
1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1
1
1 1
69
SKILL COST INITIALSCORE FORMAT KNOWLEDGES Aerial Recon Interpretation 2 WT + Scientific + Esthetic 1 (Technology Use and Basic Research and Mathematics) 3 WT + DFT + Scientific 1 Advanced Medical (Lab Technique and First Aid) Architecture 3 WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use and Basic Research and Mathematics) Armorer 3 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Blacksmiting for metal/ Plastics for Forming plastic) Automobile Mechanic 2 3 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) Blacksmithing 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) Botany 2 WT + Scientific + Natural 2 (Pre-/Post-Ruin) Chemistry 2 WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 Computer Science 2 WT + Scientific + Mechanical 2 (Technology Use) (Programming/ System Design) Decontamination 3 WT + DFT + Scientific 2 (Lab Technique) (Biological &Chemical/ Radioactive) Defusing Explosives3 2 DFT 7 WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) Demolitions ' 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) Distillation 2 WT + Mechanical + Scientific 1 (Technology Use) Electrician 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) Encryption 2 WT + Scientific + Esthetic 1 (Basic Research) Firearms Repair, Modern 1 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Firearms Repair, Primitive & Machining) 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical Firearms Repair, Primitive 1 (Blacksmithing or Machining) First Aid 2 WT + DFT + Scientific 1 Handloading 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical 1 (Technology Use) Internal CombustionEngine 3 WT + Scientific + Mechanical 1 (Physics 8 Mathematics) Machining 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) Marine Mechanic 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) Mathematics 2 WT +Scientific + Comm 1 Mechanically Generated 2 WT + Mechanical + Scientific 1 Power 3 (Technology Use & Physics) Operational Command 2 WT +Combative + Comm (Tactics) Pathology 3 WT + WT + Scientific (Chemistry & Advanced Medical) Pharmacy 3 WT + DFT + Scientific (Chemistry & Lab Technique) Physics 3 2 WT + Mechaical + Scientific (Mathematics) Plastics Forming 2 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Technology Use) 1 Radio Communications 3 2 WT + DFT + Mechanical (Technology Use)
SKILL
COST
WT WT
INITIAL SCORE
+
FORMAT
1 1 1
1
Simple Explosives 3 2 (Chemistry & Lab Technique) 2 Strategic Command (Operational Command) Telegraphy 3 2 (Technology Use) TelephoneCommunications 3 (Technology Use) Television Communications 3 3 (Electrician) Therapy 3 (Advanced Medical) Weaponsmithing 3 (Blacksmithing. Machining or Carpentry-according to material) 2 Zoology 3
DFT + Mechanical Scientific

+
+
Combative
DFT + WT WT WT WT
+
+ +
Mechanical
DFT + Mechanical DFT + Mechanical DFT + Scientific

+
1 1
DFT + WT
Mechanical
WT
Scientific + Natural
(Pre-/Post-Ruin)
HIGH TECHNOLOGY SKILLS 2

(All require Technological Use) PHYSICAL SKILLS High Technology Use 1 DFT + Wt + Mechanical Pilot, Fixed Wing 3 DFT + WT + Mechanical 3 DFT + WT + Mechanical Pilot, Submersable Pilot, Rotary Wind 3 DFT + WT + Mechanical 4 DFT + WT + Mechanical Pilot, Spacecraft (Zero G Training & High Technology Use) 4 DFT + WT + Mechanical Pilot, Variable Wing Safecracking 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical SCUBA Diving ' 3 SPD + DFT + Natural Zero G Training ' 3 DFT + WT + Mechanical Aviation Mechanic (High Technology Use)
1
1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1
KNOWLEDGES ' Complex Explosives 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (Simple Explosives) Computer Design 4 WT + Scientific + Mechanical (Computer Science 8 Mathematics & High Technology Use) ECM Operation 2 2 DFT + WT + Mechanical (High Technology Use) Laser Technology 4 WT + Scientific + Mechanical (High Technology Use) Plastic Synthesization 3 WT + Scientific + Mechanical (Chemistry 8 Lab Technique) Power Generation Electrical 3 WT + Scientific + Mechanical (Physics, Electrician 8 Mechanicall Generated 4 WT + Scientific + Mechanical Nuclear (P.G., Electrical) Solar 3 WT + Scientific + Mechanical (Physics & High Technolgy Use) Production of Fuel 4 WT + Scientific + Mechanical Hydride (Chemistry & Lab Technique) Petroleum 4 WT + Scientific + Mechanical (Chemistry & Lab Technique)
1 1
1
1
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APPENDIX 3 ARMOR MATERIALS LIST

MATERIAL PLASTIC Plasteel Armorplast Plated Plasteel Denisplast Plated Armorplast Mesh Plasteel Macroplast Plated Densiplast Mesh Armorplast Plated Macroplast Mesh Densiplast Plastex Mesh Macroplast Synthiplast Plastihide Plasticloth Heavy Plastisheet Light Plastisheet
NON-METTALLIC Natural Armor Leather Hardened Heavy Leather Heavy Leather Scaled Leather Natural Armor Hide Light Leather Heavy Hide Scaled Hide Heavy Cloth Light Hide Light Cloth METALLIC Carballoy Plated Carballoy Macrosteel Mesh Carballoy High Quality Steel Plated Macrosteel Steel Plated High Quality Steel Mesh Macrosteel Light Ferrous Metal Plated Steel Aluminum Alloy Plated Ferrous Metal Mesh High Quality Steel Bronze Plated Aluminum Alloy Mesh Steel Mesh Ferrous Metal Plated Bronze Mesh Aluminurn Alloy Mesh Bronze
CODE
PS
FORMAT
ENCILOC
ARMOR VALUE
15 13 13 11 11 11 9 9 9 8 8 6 6 5 4 3 2
1
BARTERVALUE PER LOCATION
AM LP-PS DP LP-AM M-PS MP LP-DP M-AM LP-MP

M-DP
R R SR
.04
.036 ,052 .03
3C
26 26 22 22 22 14 14 14 12 12 9 9 5 4 3 2 1
R
SR
FH
,046
.06 ,024 .04 ,054 ,032 ,046 .02 ,036 .01 ,002 .0015 ,001 .o005
R SR
FH
SR
FH FQ FH FQ FQ FQ FQ FQ
PX M-MP SY PH PC HP LP
AL H-HL HL SL AH LL
HH SH
HC LH LC
FH FH FS FH FS FS FS FS FQ FS FQ
.02 .008
,008 ,008
.02
,004 .008
.008
,001 ,004 ,0005
5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 1
3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 0.5
CA LP-CA MS M-CA
R SR R
FH
as
LP-MS SP LP-as M-MS FP LP-SP AA LP-FP M-QS EP LP-AA M-SP M-FP LP-EP M-AA M-EP
R SR R SR
FH
R SR R SR
FH
R SR
FH FH
.072 .08 .07 .09 .07 ,092 .07 ,092 ,104 .06 ,092 .04 ,078 ,104 .06 .052 ,104
.09
14 13 12 11 10 10 9 9 9
8
21
20
18 17
15
15 9 9 9
8
SR
FH FH
,078 .06 .09
8 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 5 5 4
8 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 5 5 4
Ballistic Cloth
This material presents an effective barrier to bullets but still does not perform as well against hand held weapons. To determine the Ballistic Cloth's Armor Value when struck by a hand-held weapon, divide the Barrier Factor by 10 and round to the nearest whole number. If the character sfruck is wearing other armor that has a higher Armor Value than thecloth. thisotherarmorwill be used to subtract from the Damage Potential.
MATERIAL
Empilon Fabulon Armorlon Hercuweave
CODE
BC5 EClO EC20 EC35
FORMAT
FQ FQ FH
FH
ENCILOC ,001 ,002 .01 .025
ARMOR VALUE1 BARRIER FACTOR 1f5 1/10 2/20 4/35
BARTER VALUE PER LOCATION 10 15 25 50
71
APPENDIX 4 WEAPONS LISTING

Each of the weapons listed is presented in an abbreviated format to save space. The meaning of each statistic and the abbreviations used are noted below. Some weapons will haveadditional notes regarding their nature or use. These will have footnotes to be found at the end of the listing. Weapon: The name of the weapon is listed here. Skills: The Skill(s) for using the weapon. Any weapon usuable by Single Weapon Combat Skill may be used with Two Weapon or Weapon and Shield Combat Skills. Abbreviations used are: Longsword - LS Single Weapon - SW Knife - Kn Brawling - Br Throwing - Th Nunchaku - Na Polearm - PI Unarmed Combat - UC Flexible Weapon - FW Utlllty: This is the Utility number value of the weapon. STR: This is the Strength Rating of the weapon. Hand This is the number of hands normally used to control the weapon. 1 is a weapon used in one hand, 2 is a weapon requiring two hands to use properly, and 1%is a weapon that may be used with one or two hands. S. This isan indicationof whethertheweapon allowsasecondstrike ora &: secondary attack. N means none is allowed, S means a secondary attack is WEAPON Ax, fire 6 hatchet hand l 3 lumber Baseball bat Bat with nails 5 Bayonet, short t 3 long Belt Buckle 2 Brass Knuckles t 3 Chain e 3 Club 5 3 Cudgel 5 l 3 Hammer 5 13 Knife, belt l 2 bowie l 3 jack l2 Kukrij switchblade i2 throwing 13 trench l3 Knife-spear l 3 Nunchaku, wood metal Pipe Light heavy Pick ax Pistol butt Pitchfork l 3 Rifle butt Rope Sai Sap Shuriken lo Sledge hammer Staff. crude l 3 hardened 5 Straight razor Sword, ceremonial machete saber trench Tonfa Whips Rope, hemp nylon cable weighted version Whip, leather steel tip version cable allowed under the usual rules for such, and T means a second attack is allowed in a Single Action. Surv.: This is the Survival Value of the weapon if the Clash of Weapons Option is in use. Format: This details whether or not the weapon may be used to thrust. T means thrust only, S means a normal striking attack, and E meansan Entangle attack allowed. Length This is the length category of the weapon. It will affect the Zone of Influence. the Strength Group used for the Effect Die and other things as described in Detailed Action Time. S-Short A-Average L-Long XL-Extra Long ENC: This is the Encumbrance value of the weapon. WDM: This is the Weapon Damage Multiplier of the weapon. It is followed by a letter indicating the kind of damage done. L is all Lethal C is 75% Subdual and 25% Lethal D is 50% Subdual and 50% Lethal
SKILLS
sw, PI SW. Th
UTILITY
2 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 2
1
STR
HAND
1% 1 1 2 1% 1% 1 1 1 1 1 1 1% 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1% 1 2 2 1
1
SEC.
SURV.
6 4
FORMAT
S
LENGTH
L
S
ENC
1 .4
WDM 1.EL 1.lL 1.3L 1.EL 1.3c 1.58 1.3L 1.5L 1.16 1.38 1.58 1.1 (1)C 2c 1.2c 1.1L 1.3(1.5)L 1L 1S(1.3)L 1.2L 1.5L 1.4L 1.5L 1.5c 2c 1.6C 2c 2c 2.3C 1.5L 1 +(ENCof Gun) C 1.3L 1 ENCofGun 1.7C/1.2L special 1.6L 28 1.8C 2c 1.2L 1.7L 1.EL 1.EL 1.7L 1.3c
sw
PI
sw, PI sw, PI Kn Kn FW Br FW SW, Th
sw sw
Kn, Th Kn, Th Kn. Th Kn. Th Kn. Th Th Kn
PI2
Nn, Fw Nn, Fw
sw
PI
sw
PI PI Br. SW
PI
1 2 0 2 1 2 3 1 3 4 1 1 2 2 2
3 1 2 4 2 2 1 2 1 1 3 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 4 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 3 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 +1 2 2 3
s
N N N N N
S
5 7 4
4
S S
S
BARTER VALUE 5 3
4 5
S
S
A XL A A
S
.6
1.1 0.9
N
N N S N
9 10 3 6 10 3
S 4 8
T S.T E.S
S S,E S
A A
S
1 0.3 0.4 0.1 1 0.5 0.7

0.5
7 8 2
A
S S S S S S S S S
A
S
N S
S
T
S
9 7
S.T S,T S,T

S S.T
9
7
T S
S S S
9
4
3 8
ST T S
S S S S S
XL
S S
N
S
7
8
N
S
9
10 5
N N N N S N N
S S
T
S
A L A L L
S
0.3 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.4 1.1 0.4 0.6 1 1.5 1.5 1.7 1.1
2 2 5
1
5 3
5 6 3 3 5 1 2 2 3
5
2 3
1
T
S
Br, PI Sai special Th
L L
S S
1.2 0.4 0.3 0.2 1.5 1 1 0.2 0.8 1

0.9 0.8 0.6
5
8 4
9
2
6
S.T
S S S S.T S
sw, PI
PI PI Kn
l3
3 2 1 2
1
sw sw sw sw
Tonfa FW
FW
2 2 3 3 4 1 2 3 +1 2 3 3
1 1h 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 2 2
T N
N
3 4 3
8
L XL XL
S
S,T
S
N N
S
10 10 10 3
S.T S,T
S
E E S. E
A A A A
S
2 1 9 9 9 9
6 05/m
FW FW FW FWl3 FW2
j2
2 1
1
N N N N N N N
109
1 4 4 10
XL XL L XL XL L
+S
S, E
1 0.8 1.2 +0.3

0.6 0.6 0.8
0.8
S.E
S.E
+1 1.2 1.5 1.7
1/m l/m +1 4
5 6
72
___~
IMPROVISED WEAPONS (Any improvised weaporls may be thrown) N Br 1 Bottle, whole ' l 2 1 1 1 S broken' l 2 Kn, Br 1 1 N Chair, small Br 2 2 N medium Br 3 2 N large Br 4 2 N Table, very small Br 2 2 N small Br 4 2 N medium 6r 6 2 N large6 Br 7 2 REPRODUCTION WEAPONS sw, PI Ax, battle Kn Dagger I 3 Main Gauche6 Kn Fw Flail, wood I 3 metal FW Mace, ball sw spiked sw Maul, ball sw, PI spiked s w , PI Polearm, halberd PI glaive PI Spear, boar PI2 trident I 3 PI2 PI2 yari Sword, broad sw great LS katana LS. sw long LS, sw rapier sw tulwar sw
1 1 3 4 5 3 5 8 10
S
S.T
S S S
S
S S S
S S A A L A XL XL XL
0.4 0.3 2 3 4.5 2 4 7 15
1.2 1L 2 c 2.3C 3c 2c 2 c 2.5C 3c
2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 2 2
4 2 2 3 4 2 2 3 3 4 4 2 2 2 3 5 3 4 1 2
1'h 1 1 2
2
S '
N
N
8
9 9
L
S S
1.2
0.5
N
N
1 1 1'h 1'h 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 1'h 1'h 1

1
N N
S'
6 11 8 8 9
S'
S
9
9 9
XL XL A A L L XL
0.7 1.2 1.5

0.9 0.9
2L 1.4L 1.4L 2.2c 2.4C 1.7C

1.98
10 7 8 4 6 4
6
S
S S S N N S S N N
XL
8
8 8 10 12 11 11 90 10
XL XL XL A XL L L A A
1.4 1.4 1.6 1.5 1.2 1.3 1.2 1 2 1.2 1.5

0.9 0.9
2c 2.28 2.5L 2.5L 1.5L 1.5L" 1.6L 2L 3L 2.5L 2.5L 1.7L 1.9L
4 6 8 7 5
8
6
10 15 14 12
9
10
' Second strike is only available when using Polearm Skill.
* May also be used with a shield but no second strike is allowed.

Has a hand guard with AV = 4, SR. Used on rifle will add .3 to WDM but will not add to ENC of rifle. Polearm Skill required. Weapon must check for breaking if used against Rigid armor greater than AV6 or Semi-rigid or Flexible, Hard armor greater than AV8. A die roll greater than or equal to the Survival Value on 1D20 indicates that the weapon has broken. Any damage done by that attack will be halved, as the final adjustment to the Damage Potential. As note 5 but armor Values requiring check are 8 and 10 respectively. Hand guard functions as Brass Knuckles. Weapon subtracts .5from its WDM when thrusting. Survival Value is the Barrier which must be cut to destroy weapon. l o A character may throw more than one at a time. Maxir,ium number isequal to the character's Deftness Group. Each one thrown will receive a negative modification to the 6CS equal to the number being thrown if it is more than 1. Each is rolled for separately. 2 Maximum Armor Value that the weapon can penetrate is 2 times user's i Strength Group. Maximum Armor Value that the weapon can penetrate is 4 times user's Strength Group.
j3
73
APPENDIX 5 SHIELDS
Shields may be made out of almost any materialthat a man can get his hands on. For convenience we list a variety of shields in the table below. FACINGS may be added towoodenshields.They add to the Barrier Effect (minimum and overall). ENC value and Barter Point value. If a player or the Gamesmaster finds he wishes to have a characterwho uses a shield not on the list, it may be constructed. The minimum Barrier value is the BAR value of the material times its thickness. The overall Barrier thickness is the shield Class divided by 2, rounded up, multiplied by the minimum Barrier value. The ENC value is the overall Barrier value times the Shield Factor times the thickness times a constant. This constant is .005 for plastics, .02 for metals. and .01 for wood, wicker and leather. To get an approximate Barrier value for armor materials,multiply the Armor value by 5. The Batter Point valueis one quarter the overall valuetimesthe Shield Class, nearest. Plastics are doubled, Wicker is halved. MATERIAL Wicker will ignite if the Strength Rating of the fire or-less is rolled on 106. Wood will ignite if the Strength Rating of the fire or less is rolled on 1D10. Leather will ignite if the Strength Rating of the fire orless is rolled on 1D20. These may be totally (60% chance) or partially clear.
APPENDIX 6 FIREARM FEATURES

In the firearm rules and the Gun List we have discussed Features hereand there. When a Featurepotentially affected a specific rule, it wasspelledouton the spot. But the immense creativity of firearms designers has spawned numerous remarkable devices and processes in their search for increased lethality. There are some that require a section of their own.
About Slghtr "If I can see it, I can hit it." This boast is often true for the shooter who has a decent Set of sights on his gun. There are two kinds of sights: Iron Sights, referring to non-magnifying sights, used to indicate the precise direction of
CLASS
OVERALL BARRIER
7 7 10 10 15
5 5
ENC
W Wicker'
1 2 3 4
5
0.16 0.4 0.76 1.12 1.88

0.06
W' Plywoodz
W Plywoodz
U" Plywood'
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3
4 5
10 10 15 10 10 20 20 30 15 15 30 30
45
W Bronze
1 2 3 4
1
%" Iron
2 3 Plastic Police Shield' Streetsign 2 4 2 3
8 8 16 16 10 10 20 11 22 6 12
0.12 0.50 1.76 1.88 0.2 0.26 1.00 3.00 5.50 0.46 1.12 2.26 3.38 5.62 0.16 0.40 1.60 2.40 0.20 0.50 2.00 0.14 0.82 0.18 0.80
BARRIER POINT VALUE 1 2 4 5 10 1 3 8 10

14
2
5
15 20 36
4 8
23 30 56 2 4 12 16 3
5
15 11 44 3 9
Trash can lid 4 Metal 2 Plastic 3 2 Furniture varies varies Small table as Class 3 W Plywood Stool as Class 2 Plywood Small chair as Class 2 W' Plywood FACINGS' %" Leather 1 5 2 5 3 10 4 10 5 15 1/10 Bronze 1 3 2 3 3 6 4 6
5 9
0.1 2 3 0.02 varies by piece
1/10'' Iron
1 2 3 4
5
4 4 8 8 12
0.08 0.12 0.50 0.76 1.88 0.2 0.6 0.24 0.36 0.9 0.4 0.08 0.32 0.48 1.20
1 3 8 10
19
1 2
5
6 11 1 2 6 8 15
the gun's line-of-fire, and Telescopic Sights. There are also special sights permitting fire in the dark. by enhancing low light levels (Star-Light Scopes) or by using invisible frequencies in the spectrum, the Infra-Red Scope. Iron Sights: As the name indicates. these are metal sights, usually an open notch at the back of the gun, and a corresponding bead, barleycorn. or other convex form at the front of the barrel. Ordinary Iron Sights are always present on a gun unless specifically noted otherwise in its Spec Sheet. They permit Sighted Fire as described in the firearms rules (Sighting Modifier). Click Sights: Guns can be fitted with adjustable "Click' sights, set with a micrometer knob to compensate for windage and elevation. Such sights add +1to the firer's BCS when using Sighted Fire. Peep Sights: These sights use a small bead centered in the sighting aperture.to be lined up on the target's body. This will increasetheAim of the shot (Hit Location alteration) by *1, even if the firer has no Aim normally. Match Sights: These precision instruments combine the features of Click and Peep Sights, allowing +1 to the BCS and to Aim when in Sighted Fire. LED Sights: These can be used as normal Iron Sights during the day, and in light levels of Dim or better. If the light level is Pooror Dark.they have another effect. The sight consists of a small. LED (Light Emitting Diode) serving as thesight element on the front of thegun barrel. When firing from Full Stance in Poor Ligpt, the user is only penalizedas if for Dim Light. In Full Darkness, he is only penalizedas if for Poor Light. I f he wishes, he may assume normal. Sighted Fire and receives all the benefits normally accruing to such an Action. This is not permitted to Characters in bad light with normal Iron Sights. The LED Sight is powered for 1 year by an E-1. Laser Sight: This device is an oblong box, about 3" wide by 8" long by 1" thick. (75mm x 200mm x 25mm). It will operate for 10 "shots"on 1 Charge of electricity. It can be charged with either an E-1 or E-5 and has an ENC value of 5. The Laser Sight projects a low power laser beam which appears as a bright red dot when it hits a solid object, and this dot is visible at ranges of up to 1500 meters. Used with a non-automatic weapon, it allows. in essence, two BCS rolls for the first shot in the firer's Action. The basis of aiming of the Laser Sight is the DFT AST of the firer, subject to no modifiers of any kind. If this is made. the 1st shot fired will automatically hit. If firing an automatic weapon with the Laser Sight, the first burst will hit if the AST is made. The firer must declare that he is using the Sight at the beginning of this Action. and will resolve the DFT AST when he resolvedhis first shot. If the Sight misses (i.e. AST fails) he still can fire normally at the target i f he wishes. The laser dot is not visible in Good Light, unless the user is wearing special goggles. It is also not as useful in thick smoke or fog. its effective range being cut to 500 meters. Star-Light Scope: These are Telescopic Sights with an extra bonus. They can utilize the lowest light levels to allow the user to see without difficulty. Unless the firer is in pitch blackness (say a completely lightless cave or basement) he will have no penaltyto sighted fire using this device.
Infra-Red Scope: Similar to the Star-Light Scope, but this sight UMM the invisible frequency of the infra-red spectrum (heatwsves) tosee, boosting them electronically into visible images. Thew are tricky to adjudicate. Any contrasting heat fields will stand out in high contrast a man against the sky, or a building, for instance. On the other hand, a few meters of forest cover will effectively jam the scopes pickup. As a rule of thumb, I-R can locate living targets in a non-vegetable background no matter what the light level is. A fire or hot spotlight will tend to be as distractingto the I-R scope as it is to the naked eye, if the target is backed by it. In general, think of objects emitting light in proportion to their body heat. Ifthey arecold (concreteatnight, forexample) theyareverydark. I f animal life, they areslightly luminous. If very hot, they arevery bright. Compare this image to the background of the target, and if they contrast by very much, then a clear sighting has been obtained. As long as these conditions are satisfied. fire using an I-R scope is Pretty much exempt from penalties for less-than-Good Light. * Telescopic Sights: These are thoroughly described in the Firearms rules and the text at the end of the Gun List. F..tum Doscrlbod In the Flnrrm R u k r In odor of appeamnw Match Weapons: Add 50% to the distance of their Range Steps. Hair Trigger: Allow an addition of 1 ShoVAction to maximum allowable Rate of Fire. Unless this is on a gun with an adjustable trigger, the presence of a Hair Trigger is always in force. The Gamesmaster should enforce a SPD AST upon Characters with Hair Trigger weapons who start to set up a shot and then try to abort it. If they miss the AST they must fire. Autoextractor: Weapons with an Autoextractor level will clear jams at the end of the firing Action in which they occured. A separate Action to clear the jam is not required. Recoil Reduction: Ranging from a recoil pad on the buttplateof a Long Gun to fancy venting systems and brakes, Recoil Reductionsystems reduce the penalty (if any) due to Recoil by their rated factor. A Recoil Pad always has Recoil Reduction of 1. Other systems are given a Rating in the Feature notes on their Spec Sheets. Tunable Guns: These firearms permit the user to adjust them to his personal anatomical and behavioural needs as a shooter. It requires 1 week of practice as if studying the Firearm, expending the minimum amount of ammo needed to learnwithout a Hindrance, to tune thegun. No skill points are acquired when this is done. At the end of that week, thegun will increase the users BCS by+l,andreduceanyotherusers by 2, unless retuned to him. Handed Guns: In the rules, we refer only to Pistols but there are also handed Long Guns. Using a handed weapon in the correct hand gives +1 to BCS. using a handed gun in the other reduces BCS by 2. If the gun is also tunable, it must be of the same handedness as the user. I f a handed gun is found there is a 60% chance it will be a right handers weapon and a 40% chance of a southpaws shooting iron. Swivel Swing: This allows a Long Gun to be braced using the sling strap in the same Action the Firer assumes Stance. Normally, this requires a separate Action. * Hi-Power Firearms: Or more formally, High Power Firearms. These weapons can fire High Power cartridges without risking the increased chance of a Critical Miss prescribed by the Firearms rules.
Rlfled Barrels: This is only a feature in dealing with Muzzle Loading weapons, as ALL modern guns am rifled. The use of rifling in a gun barrel will Increase the weapons Range Steps by 5oJ6, just as Match Weapons do in the more advanced weapons. Foalurn NOT In tho Fn n R u k r l m Some of these are given in the Features entres on the Gun List. Others are not all that common, but may be included at the Gamesmasters option. 357 Magnum Cross Load: Most 357 Magnum weaponscan also use38 Special. 44 Magnum Cross Load: Most 44 Magnum weapons can also use 44 Special. High Security Safely: When the safety catch is engaged, the gun CANNOT fire. Use it as a hammer or to crack nuts: it will not go off. Pistol Forearm Braces: Lock the gun into the most favorable position for proper aim. If only 1 Shot perAction is fired from a gun so provided, it receives the same benefit as the Squeeze Off option gives: the firer adds his DFTto his weapon Skill score. If this brings his Aim past 5 then so be it. Rotary Magazine: This extremely sturdy magazine is almost failure proof. Add +3 to the Control BCS against Critical Misses when using weapons with this type of magazine. No Iron Sights: Or, no sights built into the gun. This is the case with many rifles. They cannot use sighted fire until Iron or other sights are installed on them. Changeable Chokes: Many shotguns may be provided with inset and changeable tubes which can be used to alter Choke without changing barrels. Variable Choke: A device is mounted on the end of the barrel which allows the Choke setting to be selected at will in 1 Action. This is usually a rotating sleeve. Bipods: These usually go on Military Issue weapons. A Prone firer assuming Full Stance (yes, it does sound odd) may assume the Rest Weapon modifier in the same Action. * Winter Triggers: Outsize triggers, snapped on over the normal one, which protrude well below the trigger guard or snapdown trigger guards. This allows fire in mittens or bulky fingered gloves. That about wraps up the main ones. Several unique Features are in the Gun List, but they are specific to the weapons involved, not something one could apply widely.
Addlng Features A skilled Gunsmith can modify firearms toincludefeaturesthey didnot have when they came from the plant: Changed BBL. Recoil Reduction, remounted Iron Sights or a Scope Mount where one was not before, etc. The Gamesmaster must assign a base Task value to such jobs. A rule of thumb is 10 points per point of BCS or other advantage gained by the Feature for the firer (use maximum possible values). The Task Period is based on the guns OUR. Assume a base Period of 20 Hours, divided by the weapons Durability score. The workman must have the necessary parts and tools. One can hardly mount a Click Sight which one does not have on a gun when one has no tools with which to work.
APPENDIX 7 SAMPLE VEHICLES

The vehicles included in this appendix are not intended t o b e the only versions o f the prototype vehicles that can b e used in the game. Different versions o r models will have varying statistics. These can be determined using the rules in the chapter o n vehicles. Each vehiclein the appendix is given with the pertinent data. Following the list is a sample Vehicle Record Sheet which may be photocopied for use in your campaign. Maximum Speed: 100 kph Safety Devices: Seat Belts; Crash Bags Notes o n Barrier Effects: Window: 10; Body: 20 Special Features: Carries 5 passengers (inc. driver); has a trunk (ENC Cap 15, up to Large)
Vehicle: Compact Car (1986)

Classification: On-road Car Base Safe Speed: 80 Fuel System: Gas Mileage: 20km/l Capacity: 60 1 Structure: 1 Area: 2 x 3 = 6 Damage Resistance: 3 Soft Target
Vehicle: Van (1990)
Classification: On-road Truck Soft Target Base Safe Speed: 90 kph Fuel System: Elec. Mileage: 4 km/char. Capacity: Ev-50 Structure: 1.5 Area: 2 x 4= 8 Damage Resistance: 6 Maximum Speed: 58 kph Safety Devices: Seat Belts for driver and passenger in front seats Notes on Barrier Effects: Window 10; Body: 25 Special Features: Cargo area (ENC Cap 70, up to Huge 1) or 6 people, seated. This is based on a gasoline powered van with a top speed of 144 kph that gets 7.6 km/liter of fuel.
Structure: 5 Area: 4 x 7 = 28 Damage Resistance: 70 Maximum Speed: 48 kph Notes on Barrier Effects: Vehicle Armor Value: 10; impervious to small arms fire Special Features: Crew of 4 (driver, gunner, loader and commander); 105mrn Direct Fire Canon; Carries 63 rounds for main gun (APDS, HEAT. HE or WP); Coaxial 7.62mm MG (M60 MG equivalent); Carries 5.950 rounds for coaxial MG; One .50 caliber Browing M2 machine gun in commanders turret; Carries 900 rounds for commanders MG: IR main gun sight (effective to 2,000 meters); Turret turns at 120 degrees per Combat Turn (electrically powered): Military quality radio; Can be sealed against biochemical agents.
Vehicle: Jeep (mllltary
ton truck)
Classification: Off-road Car Soft Target Base Safe Speed: 80 kph Fuel System: Gas Mileage 6.9 km/l Capacity: 50 1 Structure: 2 Area: 2 x 3 = 6 Damage Resistance: 3 Maximum Speed: 88 kph Notes on Barrier Effects: Body: 25 Special Features: Carries driver, co-driver and 3 passengers of a cargo load (ENC Cap 33;
Vehicle: Bicycle
Classification: On-road Sicycle Soft Target Base Safe Speed: 8 Fuel System: Muscle Structure: 1 Area: .5 x 2 = 1 Damage Resistance: .5 Notes on Barrier Effects: None Special Features: Maximum Speed is equal to one half the users Speed in kph. It is able to be used for a number of Combat Turns equal to users Strength Group times 2. Normal speed is equal to one quarter of the users Speed in kph. It is able to be used for a number of hours equal to the users Strength Group times 2. For each two hours spent pedalling the user will have his Speed reduced by 5. Speed is recovered by resting at the rate of 5 points per hour. This reduction is only in effect if the character moves at all in a turn.
Vehicle: M-113 Armored Personel Carrier
Classification: Heavy Combat Base Safe Speed: 120 kph Hard Target Fuel System: Diesel Mileage: .5 km/l Capacity: 960 1 Structure: 4 Area: 3 x 4 = 12 Damage Resistance: 24 Maximum Speed: 67 kph Safety Devices: None Notes on Barrier Effects: Vehicle Armor Value: 7; Barrier Value: 70 Special Features: Carries 13 troops (inc. driver); Standard armament is 2 Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns; Carries up to 2000 rounds for the MGs; Military quality radio; can be sealed against biochemical agents.
Vehicle: Rowboat
Classification: Boat Soft Target Fuel System: Muscle Structure: 2 Area: 1 x 3 = 3 Damage Resistance: 3 Notes on Barrier Effects: Wood: 5 Special Features: Carries 3 persons; maximum ENC carried before sinking is 20 Moving: Maximum speed is equal to one half the rowers Strength in kph. It is able to be used for a number of Combat Turns equal to the rowers Strength Group. Normal speed is equal to one quarter of the rowers Strength in kph. It is able to be used for a number of hours equal to the rowers Strength Group. The rower will have his Strength reduced by 5 for each hour or fraction spent at rowing. This loss is recovered at the rate of 5 points per hour of rest.
Vehicle: M60A3 Main Battle Tank
Classification: Heavy Combat Hard Target Base Safe Speed: 120 kph Fuel System: Diesel Mileage: .3 km/l Capacity: 1400 1
76
Vehicle: Single Engine Passenger Airplane

Classification: Aircraft Soft Target Base Safe Speed (taxi): 100 kph Fuels System: Aviation fuel Mileage 3 km/l Capacity: 500 1 Structure: 3 Area: (1 x 8) + (1 x 10) = 18 Damage Resistance: 27 Maximum Speed: 315 kph Minimum air speed: 50 kph Safety Devices: Seat belts Notes on Barrier Effects: Window: 10; Body: 16 Special Features: Carries 6 passengers (inc. pilot); Has a baggage compartment (ENC Cap of 39. up to Large)
Vehicle: industrial Passenger Helicopter

Classification: Aircraft Soft Target Fuel System: Aviation fuel Mileage: .5 km/l Capacity: 400 1 Structure: 3 Area: (2 x 3) + 7 = 13 Damage Resistance: 20 Maximum Speed: 219 kph Safety Devices: Seat Belts Notes on Barrier Effects: Window: 10; Body: 16 Special Features: Carries six passengers (inc. pilot); Has a baggage compartment (ENC Cap of 8.5. up to Large; Can take an optional external cargo sling allowing it to lift up to 49 ENC mote, up to Huge 1.
Aftermath! VEHICLE RECORD SHEET

Vehicle Classification Base Safe Speed Fuel System Soft/Hard Target Block out Areas of the Vehicle
- Mileage Capacity Structure Area Damage Resistance - Current Durability Current Max. Speed Maximum Speed
~
Damage taken not yet accounting for a Durability loss Safety Devices
Notes on Barrier Effects
Special Features
77
APPENDIX 8 GLOSSARY
A Code letter for a Disease, Poison, or other form of contaminant
B: Code Letter (short for Both). Refersto weapons or attacks deing 50% Lethal and 50h Subdual Damage. BAP See Base Action Phase. BAR See Barrier Value. BBL: Abbreviation of Barrel. Refers to the length of gun barrels. BCS: See Basic Chance of Success. BDG: See Bullet Damage Group.
BMA See Base Movement Allowance.
with an Aerosol Vector. See Vector. AFV: Armored Fighting Vehicle. Generic term for any armored combat vehicle such as a tank, armored car, personnel carrier, etc. A P See Action Phase. AP 0: Action Phase 0. The final Action Phase in a Combat turn. No character Actions or movement take place in AP 0. It is used for such bookeeping as is needed in the campaign at that time (effects of drugs, acid, fire, etc.). APC Armored Personnel Carrier. A specific type of AFV. A S 1 See Attribute Saving Throw. ATGM: Standard military abbreviation for Anti-Tank Guided Missile. A projectile guided by radar, laser-display, wire, or other control, designed to be effective vs. hard targets (qv). ATV: A l l Terrain Vehicle. A class of vehicle designed for use on or off the road in a variety of terrains and conditions. This class includes tracked vehicles, 4-wheel drive vehicles, and such advanced devices as Ground Effect vehicles, which use a cushion of compressed air as a means of locomotion. A V See Armor Value. Ability: A score representing some physical Or mental characteristic, directly derived from an Attribute or Attributes. Action: Some option or action performed by a character. It requires a number of Action Phases equal to PCA to perform a simple Action. Action Phase: A segment of a Combat Turn (qv). There is an indefinite number of Action Phases in each Combat Turn. Action Zone: The Front facing hexes of a character on the Detailed Action Time Display. May vary in size according to the Length of the characters weapon. Adjusted BCS: This number is derived by applying all relevant modifiers to a characters BCS. This is the scorewhich isapplied to the die roll to see if the action attempted succeeds or fails. If the score rolled is less than or equal to the Adjusted BCS, the attempt has been successful. Advance: A measurement of the progress of a drug, disease, or other progressively worsening state or condition. Such Advances may be Up an Attribute or other score, achieving effects as they match given proportions of the total score, or Down, in which case the Advance representsa reduction of the score in question. Allocated Attribute Score: The value of the Attributes as originally designed by the player. Armor Value: A measure of the ability of a given material to stop harmful force from blows, missiles, heat, electrical current, etc. The Armor Value is subtracted from the DamagePotential (qv) of an attack striking the character on the Location covered by that armoring material. Attribute: A number greater than 1, measuring a characters physical and mental capabilities. The usual range for human Attributes is from 1 to 40. Attribute Saving Throw: (Abbr. AST) A Saving Throw calculated by dividing the relevant Attribute score by 2, round down. See Saving Throw. Autoloader: A form of Gun Action, automatically ejecting spent cartridges and chambering new ones for firing. Also called semiautomatic. Average Armor Value: An abstract figure representing the overall armor protection for a character. Calculate as follows: Total the best Armor Values on each Location of the Character and divide by 30, round nearest. Avong. BCS (maximum score possible/lO) to derive this BCS. It is then subject to normal modifiers to derive the effective BCS for the Skill use in question. Average BCS is generally used in cases where the attempted task is more than usually difficult.
B P See Barter Point. Barrier Value: A measurement of the resistance of materials to damage or force. This can be expressed as a figure per inch of thickness, as when calculating the Barriers resistance to missiles, or a figure representing Task Points needed to force passage past the Barrier (a lock, bolted door, gate, cave-in, etc.). Barter Point: A rough estimate of the trade value of some item or commodity. Barter Point values fluctuate according to the acumen of the traders, the condition of the goods, and the utility of the item for the would-be purchaser. Base Action Phase: The number of the first Action Phase in a Combat Turn on which a character may initiate movement or Actions. It is equal to effective Speed/2, down. Base Movement Allowance: The number of meters a character can move in one Action Phaseat a Walking pace. For normal Humans, this is one. Base Safe Speed: The maximum safe speed for a particular vehicle. The effectivefigure 1s modified by the terrain, weather, light, etc. Basic Chance of Success: Abbreviated as BCS. This is determined by dividing the score in a Skill by 5, round down. It can never exceed 20 (but see also Effective BCS). Blast: A measurement of the concussive force of an explosion. Bookkeeping Phase: see APO Bullet Damage Group: Measure the Damage Potential (qv) of firearm projectiles (i.e. bullets). This is equal to lDlO per BDG/10, up, plus 1 point x BDG/10, nearest. Also determines the percent chance of Missile Special Effects resulting from a bullet hit. C: Code letter short for Crush. Refers to weapon or attack doing 25% Lethal and 75% Subdual Damage. CDA See Combat Dodge Ability. CRS: See Character Record Sheet. CST: See Critical Saving Throw. Carblne: A Gun barrel length, applicable to Pistols or Long Guns. It denotes a BBL of more than twelve inches and lessthan twenty. Character: Any being encountered in the game: humans, animals, monsters, robots, you name it. See Player-Character, Non-Player Character, Personality Non-Player Character. Character Record Sheet: Annotated log sheet containing information on a character. It should include phsycial characteristics. Skills and other abilities, and a list of equipment. The Character Record Sheet (CRS) should beon hand foreasy referenceduring play. Charge (Electric): A measurement of electrical power. usually stored power equal to 100 watt-hours. Combat Dodge Ability: Governs ability to evade attack (reducing attackers BCS). Equal to effective (Speed plus Deftness)/PO, nearest. Combat Turn: The basic unit used to measure time in Detailed Action Time scale, 1 Combat Turn equals approx. 6 seconds. It does not necessarily involve actual fighting. Combative Talent: One of the Talents, governing will-to-win and general aptitudes combat situations. Control BCS: Some Skills, notably the Hand-to-Hand and Small Arms Skills, have a Control BCS derived from scores about 100 points. All Skills of Format 3 allow such BCS rolls in the event of a Critical Miss.
70
Countdown: The sequence of Action Phases in a Combat Turn, as called by the Gamesmaster. It begins with the number of the BAP of the character with the highest score in that Ability and proceeds down from that number to 0. Critical Effect: The special effects, if any, suffered by a character who has taken damage from a Critical Hit. These are rolled foron the Critical Effects table. Critical Hit: Occurs when a BCS, Saving Throw, or similar die roll on 1D20 scores a natural roll of one. Indicates that the action being attempted has achieved a more than ordinary degree Of success. In a combat situation, the Damage Potential of the attack is increased and the target may suffer special effects (see Critical Effects). Critical Miss: Occurs when c BCS, Saving Throw, etc. scores a die roll of a Natural 20. Indicates a more than usually inept failure, possibly with severe consequences. Some Skills allow a Control BCS attempt (qv). Critical Saving Throw: A Saving Throw (qv) derived from an Attribute by the following formula: effective Attribute/% nearest. Its use is similar to the AST, but is reserved for situations of greater peril or difficulty than normal. Current Attribute Score: The value of an Attribute at a given point in the campaign, allowing for changes in the Allocated value due to Self Improvement, Age, etc. DAT: See Detailed Action Time. DFT: Standard abbreviation of the Deftness Attribute. D P See Damage Potential. DRT: See Damage Resistance Total. Damage: A figure generated by weapon blows, natural hazards, high falls, and other dangers to life and limb. There are several types of Damage: Lethal, Subdual. and Critical. Damage Dice: Alternate term for the Effect Die of a characters Strength Group. See Group. Damage Potential: Damage Potential measures the total damaging effect of a hit or other hazard before any of the targets defenses can reduce the damage that the target will actually suffer to his DRT. In hand-to-hand and muscle powered missile attacks, the Damage Potential equals the score rolled on the Damage Dice (qv) times the Weapon Damage Multiplier (qv) of the weapon used. Damage Resistance Total: The amount of Damage (Lethal or Subdual) which a character can suffer before dying or losing consciousness.The DRT is the sum of the characters Health plus half his Strength plus half his Will in most cases, although some Non-Player-Characters have special formulae for determining DRT. Detailed Action Time: A Time Scale used to keep track of action in Aftermath! Time in DAT is measured in six second Combat Turns (qv) and distance is measured on a 1 meter hexagonal grid display, call the DAT Display. DAT is invoked by the Gamesmaster in all situations in the campaign where activity must be kept track of in minute detail. The usual situations in equestion include combat, triggering traps, encounters, etc. It is not restricted to violent situations. Durability: An abstract measure of the condition of an artifact (vehicle, tool, weapon). When Durability is below the normal value for an item, its functions are impaired. When the Durability is reduced below 1, the item ceases to function (Disrepair) and may be irreparably damaged (Junked). EHectlve Attrlbute Score: The Current Attributescore (qv) allowing for temporary alterations due to wounds, Encumbrance, diseases, poisons, etc. Used for calculating all Saving Throws or other Attributes based values at a given moment. Encumbrance: A system measuring both the weight and bulk of objects for purposes of calculating carrying capacities in the campaign. These values are measured in ENC. Encumbrance Capacity: Encumbrance Capacity measures a characters load bearing ability. The ENC CAP equals (2 +characters Strength Group) plus his Deftness Group. This is the maximum amount of Encumbrance he may carry.
Encumbrance Total: Also called Encumbrance Status. This is the amount of Encumbrance currently being carried by a character. Engaged Status: A character who is in the Active Zone of a foe who is able to cause him harm. Generally refers to being in the range of a hand-to-hand attack by a conscious enemy. EngagedStatus limits the movement of the cbaracter. Fatigued A condition applying to characters who have suffered an overexertion or debilitating disease or poison effect. Two levels of Fatigue exist: Partial and Full. Freely Improvable Skills: The maximum number of Skills in which the character may study without a Hindrance (qv).The number of Freely Improvable Skills equals the sum of the Current Wit and Will. Full Fatigue: A condition in which the sufferers Effective values in Deftness and Speed are reduced by 50% and all BCS and Saving Throw scores receive a penalty of minus 2. Fully Encumbered A character with an Encumbrance Total exceeding 75% of his Encumbrance Capacity is Fully Encumbered. His Effective Deftness and Speed are reduced by 50% and all BCS and Saving Throw scores receive a penalty of minus 2. GEV Abbreviation of Ground Effect Vehicle. See ATV. GPMG: Abbreviation of General Purpose Machine Gun. An intermediate level of weapon between Light and Heavy Machine Guns. Gamesmaster: The campaigns referee. The final arbiter of all game matters. Governing Attribute: An Attributewhichcomprises part of the Initial Score in askill. It isdesignatedas theGoverning Attribute, which has certain effects in Self improvement. Governing Talent: A Talent which comprises part of the initial score in a Skill. It is designated as the Governing Talent, which has certain effects on Self Improvement. The raw score in a Governing Talent may also, at the Gamesmasters Discretion, be used as a score in any Skill it governs, in the absence of any character trained in that Skill. Group: A central concept in the game mechanic!A Group is a figure generated from any number (usually an Attribute). The Group figure may be used itself to determine some event, or an Effect Die roll may be generated from it. The breakdown of numbers into Groups is: 1-4 5-14 15-24 25-34 35-44 Number 0 Group 0 1 2 3 4 5 EffectDie None 1D3 1D6 1D10 2D6 2D10 A Group can be calculated by dividing the number by 10. adding one, and rounding to the nearest whole number. For Groups higherthan5, the Effect Dieis2DlOplusafigureecrual to the Group minus 5. E.g., for a value of 77, the Group would be9 and the Effect Die would therefore be 2D10 plus (9-5), or plus4. Gun Action: Generic term for the operating mechanism of a firearm. The Gun Action specifically controls the rate of fire, that is the number of shots a character can fire in a single Action during a Combat Turn.
H E Standard abbreviation for High Explosive.
HEAP Standard abbreviation for High Explosive Anti-Personnel, referring to explosive weapons designed for use against human (or at least living) targets. HEAT: Standard abbreviation for High Exploive Anti-Tank, referring to Rifle Grenades and other man-portable weapons designed for use vs. AFVs.
HLH: Standard abbreviation of the Health Attribute.
HMO: Heavy Machine Gun.
HTH: Hand-to-Hand. May refer to a form of weapon or style of combat. Hard Target: used in determining the effects of Vehicular Combat. Refers to an armored vehicle.
79
Healing Rate: The base figure governing the recovery of lost DRTof
Player-Character: A character designed and/or controlled by a
the reduction of other forms of damage. It is equal to the characters Health Group.
ICBM: For Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. The most useful form
Player. The Player-Characters are (at least theoretically) the stars of the campaign.
Pound Pull: A term indicating the spring-strength of a bow. The
of delivery for large tactical or strategic nuclear weapons. Not man-portable.

Incubation Period: The length of time between exposure to an
higher the Pound Pull, the greater the range potential of the weapon, but the higher the Strength neededto use it effectively.
RPG: Standard abbreviation for Role Playing Game. Range Factor: A figure used in archery. It is equal to the Pound
infection, drug, or other poison or pathogen and the first onset of its effects.
L: A weapon or form of attack doing 100% of its damage as Lethal Damage.
L A W For Light Anti-Tank Weapon. Refers to man-portable, single
Pull/lO, nearest.
Rep: A system for determining the reputation enjoyed by a given
character in the campaign at large, and how likely he is to be recognized by strangers as a result of his deeds.
Reputation Zone: Area in which a characters Rep is generally
shot, disposable missile launchers, firing powerful HEAT rounds.

LMG: Standard abbreviation for Light Machine Gun.
LOC: Also spelled as LOC. See Location. Lb.P.: See Pound Pull. Learning Rate: The base figure governing the rate at which the
known.
Restriction Zone: The area within which a character is subject to
Restrictions in combat, based on the DAT Display.

Rifle: A Long Gun with a BBL of greater than twenty inches.
character will gain Skill points in a period of study (usually measured in points per week). It is equal to the characters Wit Group.
Location: A portion of a characters body, designated ona Hit
S Code for weapon or attack doing 100% Subdual Damage. Such Damage is non-lethal except in large amounts, and is usually
quickly healed.
SCUBA: Standard term for underwater breathing gear. Stands for
Location chart. Alternativeiy, the number of such parts that may be covered by some form of protection, clothing, or armor.
Long Gun: A firearm used with both hands, usually fired from the
Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.

SMG: Standard abbreviation for Sub-Machine Gun. S P D Standard abbreviation of the Speed Attribute. STOL: Standard abbreviation for Short Take-Off and Landing.
shoulder.
M N A Standard abbreviation of Maximum Number of Actions. Maximum Number of Actions: The greatest number of Actions a
Refers to aircraft which require minimal runway space fortaxiing for take off or braking after landing.
STR: Standard abbreviation of the Strength Attribute. Shotgun: Usually a Long Gun. It fires a mass of small pellets (Shot)
character may perform in a single Combat turn. The MNA is equal to the characters Deftness Group.
NPC. See Non-Player-Character. Non-Player-Charactec A character in the campaign controlled by
rather than a single bullet. Can also fire single, large caliber Slugs.
Soft Target: Used in determining the effects of Vehicular Combat.
the Gamesmaster. An NPC need not be a human being. As a rule, all characters not created and controlled by Players are NonPlayer-Characters.
O D A See Overall Defense Ability. Overall Defense Ability: The total defensive ability of a character
Refers to an unarmored vehicle.

Structural Stability: An abstract value applied to buildings and other
structures. It measures their general condition and the danger of violent action while inside. The figure also serves to determine random accidents while traversing such buildings.
Talent: A score measuring the inherent capability of the character
under attack. It is the sum of his CDA and WDA (if applicable). The ODA is subtracted from the attackers BCS to hit the target.
P C See Player-Character. P C A See Phases Consumed in Action. PNPC: See Personality Non-Player-Character. Partial Fatigue: A condition in which the sufferers Effective values
in some general area. The maximum score in a Talent for a normal human is20. Scores above 10 representsignificant Talent in that area.
Task An activity or task to produce some product or change some
in Deftness and Speed are reduced by 25% and all BCS and Saving Throw scores receive a penalty of minus one
Partially Encumbered: A character with an Encumbrance Total between 50-75% of his Encumbrance Capacity is Partially
condition. The Gamesmaster assigns a value in Task Points to the job and when the character(s) involved have generated that number of points, the Task is completed. A Task Period is also assigned, which governs how often they may generate more points on that Task.
Treacherous Ground Any surface which does not provide sure
Encumbered. His Effective Deftness and Speed are reduced by 25% and all BCS and Saving Throw scores receive a penalty of minus one.
Passive Zone: Refers to a characters Side and Rear hexes of the
footing for characters in motion upon it: ice, rubble, mud, etc.
DAT display.
Personality Non-Player-Character A Non-Player-Character with
a fully designed history, psychology, motivation, etc. The major NPCs in the campaign. They may be of major status (known widely in the game world) or important only in a given scenario. They are not necessarily hostile to Player-Characters.
Phases Consumed in Action: The number of Action Phases it takes
for a Character to perform an Action. The PCAequals BAP/MNA, down.

Pistol: A handgun. Specifically refers to firearms used with one
hand.
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Movement above a given rateon Treacherous Ground may cause the character t o fall down. Unencumbered: A character whose Encumbrance Status is less than or equal t o 50% of his ENC CAP is unencumbered, unaffected by the burdens he is carrying. Unengaged Status: A character who does not satisfy the requirements for Engaged Status is Unengaged. Utility Number: An abstract figure used as a guide to assigning a value and level of usefulness to items found, bought, or otherwise obtained during the campaign. The higher the Utility Number, the more valuable or useful the item is.
Refers to aircraft which can take off in a straight-up line, without taxiing. W D A See Weapon Defense Ability WDM: See Weapon Damage Multiplier. WL: Standard abbreviation of the Wit Attribute Weapon Damage Multiplier: The value assigned a handweapon, or mechanical or muscle powered missile weapon, by which the character using it will multiply his damage die roll to determine his damage potential. Weapon Defense Ability: Represents the ability to parry and dodge in HTH combat using a given Combat Skill. WDA is equal t o the the first 100 points of the Skill in use, divided b y 20, nearest.
VTOL Standard abbreviation for Vertical Take-Off and Landing.
NOTES
81
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Running an Aftermath! campaign....... . I
Elephant ................................... . 2 7 Tactlcal Battler and Large Scale Combats . . . . . . ..53 . 2 7 The Course of the Battle., .................... .53 This is the Way the World Ends ................ 1 Mutant Animals .............................. Rodents.. .................................. .27 Pre-Ruin Unrest .............. ............... 1 Modifications to the Die Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Results of the Battle Determination.. . . . . . . . . ,54 Primary Kill .................. ............... 1 Insects.. ........... Morale Failure.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Secondary Kill ............... ............... 1 Apes.. ............. 1 Usefulness of Animals ........................ .30 The Dogs of War ............... Ending a Battle.. ....... . . . . . . . . . . .54 Strength Determinations . . . . . . . . . . ,54 1 The Non-Player Character ...................... .31 Conventional ................. 2 Handling Non-Player Characters .............. . 3 1 Loss Modification Char . . . . . . . . . . .54 Biochemical .................. 3 Too Many Characters.. ....................... . 3 2 Military Campaigns ........ NBC War .................... . . . . 55 3 Non-Player Character Quality ... The Hammer of Nature ......... Logistics .............. , .................... .56 .............. . 3 Expertise .............32 The Aliens ..................... Army Movement.. .......................... . 5 6 Armor Kits A Twist in Space ............... .............. . 3 Positional Battles.. ......................... .56 4 SampleSh The Years to Come ................. Custom Armies.. ............................. . 5 6 .4 Long After the Ruin ......................... Using Multiple Characters .................. .33 Calculating Values for a Custom Army., . . . . .. 5 6 HoDe for the Future ......................... .5 Technoloav In the Aftermath .................... .34 Custom Armv Values Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., 5 7 Pacing Thing 6 .. . 3 4 Example of a Custom Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7 The Unexpec 7 .34 Custom Armies after the Batt Creating the Environment.. ...................... .8 Measuring Electricity ....................... . 3 4 Characters in a Tactical Battle The City Map .................................. . 8 35 Battle Results for Characters .. . 3 5 Enclave City ................................ .8 Fortunes of War Table .................... .59 35 Boss City ................................... .8 Critical Battle Resutts Table.. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..59 The Condition of the City. 35 After-Battle Results .... Wind and Water Power ..................35 The Changed . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Residential Areas . . The Commercial Areas ....................... 9 .. . 3 6 Physical Mutations ........................... . 6 1 Motorized Generators Fuel Cells ................... ........ 36 Strongs . . . . . . . . . The lndustr s .... ......... 9 Communities ...... ......... 9 Solar Screens ............... ........ 36 Ouicks . . . . . Territory . . ...... ......... 9 Nuclear Power ........................... .36 Toughs .... Salvaging Electricity .... 36 lmmunes ... Size ........................................ . 9 Military Strength ............................ .9 Wattage Output Ta Resources ................................... 9
..
............... 12 ............... 12
FueVPower . . . . . Clothes/Armor . Tools/Kits., ............................... Medicine.. ................................
14 14
...............14
...............
Class of Encounter ........................ 16 Men Encounters.. ......................... 16 Origins/lntentions of Groups.. ............. 17
Psionic Powers.. ........................... .64 Projected Powers.. ....................... 64 64 Receptive Powers ........................ Systems Control.. .......................... .38 Telepathic Powers,, . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Computer Resources ....................... .38 ESP Powers.. ............................. 56 .38 Psychokinetic Powers .................... . 6 7 Robots. ............ 39 Precognitive Powers.. .................... .68 Determining Mutations., ..................... 69 Robot-Controlled Devices. . . . . . . Mutation Generation Ta . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Artificial Intelligence.. .......... Psionic Function Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Animatrons .................... .. . 4 0 Physical Mutation Table . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Animatron StatiStiCS by Model.. ........... . 4 1 The Changed in the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Animatron Critical Hit Table .............. 4 1 Reputation ...................................... 70 Repair and Reprogramming ................. . 4 1 Earned Reputation. ............................ 70 High Tech Weapons . . 4 1 positional Reputation ..... ..... . . . 71 Recognition and Reputation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Laser Trauma (Option) .................... 4 2 variations on Reputation Due to Location.. . . . . . 71 Sample . 4 2 Reputation Carryover Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7 1 Lazab. Electrowe Tasers ............................ Exotic Firearm Ammo Sabot Rounds . . . . . Explosive Rounds ....................... Incendiary Rounds ....................... .43 Flame Weapons ............................ . 4 3
. .38
Rat Encounters. ........................... Event Encounters Contamination Encounters.. ..
18
Nuclear Weapons.
.....
............ . 4 4
Stability., ................................... 19 Hazard Special Effects.. ................... 19 Beasts ......................................... Hostile Animals .............................. Bears . ..................... Cats ............................... Dogs .............................. Reptiles. ................................... Sharks , . . , . . Non-Hostile An Razorback
.21 .21 .21
Modified Diseases
........................ ....................... .......................
.47 .40 .48
.24
.............. . 2 5 ............... 2 6
......... . 2 7
Medicine .............. Drugs ....................................... Medical Technology ........................

50 .52
........
Running an Aftermath! Campaign

Well, by now you have certainly come to the conclusion that you have an awful lot of work to do in runningAftermath! We have admittedly been pretty free in our use of such statements as At the Gamesmasters Discretion, or The Gamesmaster Must Determine the Details for His Campaign. It would have streamlined your job a lot if we had decided to just publish one of our campaigns from the playtest instead of going into the means by which the design work is done. But that is not the intent of this game. Some playing groups will really get off on the idea of an After the World Ends game set only a few years into the Aftermath. Others will prefer the campaign which starts centuries later. The questions of how the Ruin came, just what it was, what level civilization reached before it ended, etc., all provide totally different worlds depending on the answer that fits your vision of the post-Ruin environment. So this is a very free-form set of rules. If it pleases garners, there will be campaign-oriented materials to follow, to buy or not as they prefer. All the information you need to set up a campaign is here, in this set. Everything else is just window dressing. Confronted by all this data: gun rules, hand-to-hand combat systems, the specs on a hundred different factors i n the game, it may be difficult to decide just where to start on your own campaign, We found that the essential foundation of any coherent campaign was the question What was the Ruin? their prime motivation, the ones who will stand to their station until the end. There will also be skeptics, the ones who do not believe all that hogwash, who will ignore the oncoming ending of things because they have common sense. But wedo notthinktheywill beenough tostemthetide. The Pre-Ruin Unrest phase will lead to an increase of weapons and high-security sites in cities, as crime runs rampant. Depending on its length, the men of good will may also prepare in their way for the Ruin. Colonies in remote areas may be established. Such locales may be the cradles of the rebirth that we hope follows from any Aftermath! campaign. Here the old technology may be preserved, although in secret in those worlds where the mob blames science for the downfall of the world it knew. These are the priests and magicians of the generations to come, until the day mankind is ready again to share freely the knowledge of how things work.
Primary Kill
This is the actual Ruin itself. Whatever form it takes, we posit that it will wipe 90% or more of the population from the face of the globe, and directly or indirectly shatter the major edifices of mans culture into the bargain. The Ruin may be over in a matter of hours or it may drag on for years. But when it is over, the Earth will seem an alien and savage world.
Secondary Kill
When civilization collapses, think of what will go with it. The first to die will be those whose lives directly depend on its resources: diabetics, others on major medical support, city dwellers cut off from food and water, light and power, those who survive in remote areas only by virtue of supplies from more plentifully endowed markets. Famine will stalk our overpopulated nations as support from the agricultural powers is cut off. Plagues will sweep thesurvivors, no longer able to tap the mighty resources of modern hospitals, and living in the carnage following the Ruin. This wave of death and destruction is the Secondary Kill. It will probably slay 50% or more of those who lived through the Ruin. It will also complete the assassination of the works of mankind. Fires will tear through vast areas of the deserted cities. Battles for food and resources between groups of survivors will ravage the land. Earth as we know it, alreadyacorpse, will be kicked to shreds by the final spasms of the Secondary Kill. When it is done, the fall of civilization will be complete. From now on those who live at all will do so in the Aftermath!
THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS

There are numerous apocalypses in the literature dealing with post-Ruin survival (not all of them fiction by any means). The commonest of them all is war: man blowing himself back to the caves. The forces of nature are not far behind. Novels and speculative works of science have posited catastrophes based on climatic changes, hits by comets or asteroids, alterations in the conditions of space around Earth, oceanic changes, etc. Lately, the possiblity has been raised, again by novelist and scientist alike, that we are polluting ourselves into a Ruin. And these represent only part of the list of possible endings to humanitys latest chapter i n the roll call of fallen civilizations. In any universal calamity, there will be three phases, of varying intensity and duration. Sometimes one dill overlap another. In some cases, there will be no clear dividing line between phases. But they will always be present t o some degree.
Pre-Ruin Unrest
The length of this phase directly depends upon the time between the first solid proof that the Ruin is coming and its actual occurrence. Threats of war, the sighting of an oncoming planetary collision, the beginning of the ultimate eco-catastrophe, all will trigger a social upheaval as people vent their fears and furies in a culture where the force of law is abrogated by the impending demise of the system that created it. Riots, huge migrations from danger areas in search (usually forlorn) of some safe place, outbreaks of impulse crimes on an unprecedented scale will plague the last days of mans culture. How effective a deterrent is the death penalty in a world where everyone lives under the same sentence? What will keep police or other safety workers on the job when all they are doing is keeping things tidy for the final break-up? There will be the men with duty as
THE DOGS OF WAR

First on our list of possible Ruins, we have the threat of one last, global war. For various reasons, we do not assume a strategic, nuclear spasm war to have occurred. If it did, there is no one left to play the game, right? But let us discuss the main possibilities. We perceive the best war-based Ruinsfora campaign to be either Conventional, Biochemical, or NBC (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical).
Conventional
It is very unlikely that aconventional war could put modern civilization into an Aftermathlsituation. It does just fine in the Secondary Kill, but the world today seems too large, too decentralized, for the limited capabilities of chemical explosives and mass armies to be enough to destroy it. Oh, such a global war could cause widespread suffering, local
collapses of order, but not a Ruin. This option is offered for those fans of H. G. Wells, Stanley Weinbaum, Edgar Rice Burroughs, et al. who foresaw, in the almost innocent days before there were atomic bombs, a massive conventional war which would shatter the structure of world society, hurling people back to a primitive level of culture within a few generations. While most of these visions foresaw the use of biological weapons as well, they were just the frosting on the cake, and had no lingering effects o n the world of the Aftermath. The heroes in these campaigns will, if they follow the pattern of the above-mentioned authors, be splendid specimens of WASP masculinity, who call their companions Fellows, or even Chaps. They may be members of civilized enclaves, exploring the ruined outer world, or simply members of primitive societies, driven by inner memories of a finer, nobler time. The advantage of such campaigns, once cleared of some of the more dated racial or sexual concepts of their authors, is that a clear-cut code of the Good Guys exists, so that an ethical standard can be maintained should the nihilistic possibilities of a more modern setting distress you. The disadvantage is that considerable research and retuning of the technology used in the rules will have to be done, to flavor the campaign with the usually unwieldy brand of technology foreseen by the writers who generated the source works for the campaign.
When it is all over, the world is fast sinking into the new dark age. Only God knows when it will rise again. The survivors move through a plague-blasted, germ-laden environment, seeking only one day of life at a time.
Biochemical War
Sometime in the late 20th century, the nations of the world finally came t o an agreement regarding nuclear disarmament. To unbounded relief and rejoicing, the big bombs were dismantled, fired into space, or converted to peaceful uses. The era of world peace and safety was at hand! The first plague bombs fell about ten years later. If we posit that nuclear conflict does not happen, the above scenario is a very real possibility. Nations that never could have mounted the expensive support needed for nuclear expansion can easily handle the modest bill for biological research. With recombinant DNA studies a reality today, any ethical cripple with a good research facility can produce a mutated virus or bacterium that modern medicine cannot recognize, and send it on its merry way via aerial sprays, small missiles, or even an agent with a flask of the culture in a briefcase. Release a few dozen rats carring fleas infected with Bubonic Plague into New Yorks waterfront area, and in a week you will see that city tottering on the path todeath, its populace fleeing madly out, some of them bognd to be carriers. Now multiply that by several hundred seaports all over the world. In the middle ages, successive pandemics of plague reduced the population of Europe by up to 90% in some places. Overall, two persons in three had died when the Plague Years ended. If a long period of building international tension, with afew brushfire wars that bear home the feeling that the end is in sight for modern civilization, is posited in the Pre-Ruin period, then a Phase of Unrest will begin the events of the campaigns history. After a few years of this initial death agony, the final war breaks out. Laboratory-spawned plagues will sweep the globe. A s fast as medicine finds one cure, a dozen new pathogens are released from the military research centers, or, far more likely, spawned by unforeseen mutations in the old organisms. Genetically unstable, the virus that one nation meant as a non-lethal means of incapacitating an enemy force is suddenly transformed into a raging pestilence that strikes down friend and foe alike, ignoring vaccines prepared to deal with its original form. Amidst the almost-deserted cities, riots break out. The scientists who caused it all are lynched in their hundreds. The madness spreads. He knows how machines work, so string him up. Hewasa politician, burn him! He knows howto read, kill him!!!
NBC War
Tnis offers the Gamesmaster several handy options. If he . -
wishes to avoid the potential complexities of having largely intact cities available for character exploration, he may posit that strategic nuclear strikes were made with arsenals reduced by partial disarmament treaties only on major military and civil targets. The rest of the destruction Was biochemical. One campaign run independently of our main playtests used a unique variation on this theme. The Player Characters were all members of one Community, moderately well-established in a large cavern system outside Washington, D.C. The War was 20 years ago. Nuclear strikes and biological contamination had turned the cities into hellholes of radiation and viral poisoning. But now, in the last few months, travelers are coming through who report that it is possible to trespass in the cities and survive, although hostile mutants, diseased bandit tribes, and the still-lethal pollutants in many areas makes it risky, to say the least. Characters are sent out to forage for desperately needed supplies in the ruins of the nations capital. They find hair-raising adventures and much useful loot, although most of their finds must be turned over to the community. The dilemma they face is whether to return to the caverns from a given trip, or try to survive on their own with what they can get. It has its good points as a campaign, especially in the early stages, when the Gamesmaster can maintain pretty tight control over what is obtained by the characters, and what they can find in the city, as well as having well-defined lists of available Skills and resources in the community for learning or trade. In many ways, the use of the NBC war is the best scenario for your campaign, always assuming that war was the manner of the Ruin in the first place.
THE HAMMER OF NATURE

Have you ever considered the possible results of a New Ice Age, one that starts tomorrow and is in full swing within a century? Contemplate the Pre-Ruin Unrest inherent in that situation! If we manage to melt the polar ice with a Greenhouse Effect, not much, say 5% in the next 50 years, with a little help from some theory that does not pan out (say using nuclear warheads to clear a trans-polar channel, or some equally harebrained scheme), do you care to picture the resulting rise in sea level and its effects on our society? Or just drop a decent-sized celestial traveler onto the Earth, or swing some massive cosmic hitchhiker through the system on a course too close for comfort. Bang! No more civilization. The major attraction of this type of Ruin is also its major disadvantage: the world is reshaped by the catastrophe. Seas lie upon shorelines that do not now exist, at least not as waterfront properties. Cities are pilesof rubble in the wake of earthquakes. Mountain ranges may change their addresses. The Gamesmaster must take a correcting pencil to his Atlas if he is going to play in this league. But, especially if setting the campaign in the far future (the 200 Years After Campaign), when humanity is getting used to its remodelled domicile, the Gamesmaster can build fascinating histories of what had been just waiting for his Players to unravel their mysteries. Or picture the Players portraying the first few generations of survivors: Well, 1-66 should cross the Mississippi here, but theres this inland sea in the way ... If the main attraction for you in running an Aftermath! campaign is confronting the 20th-century folk who are Playing with the changes in 2lst-century America, using their Preconceptions about how it will be to surprise and challenge them, then such a Ruin may well serve your needs.
uncaring heel of an alien invader. Humanityskulks in the rayblasted, bomb-cratered ruins of its cities or the returning forests in the countryside, struggling to survive until i t is strong enough to drive the overlords off the planet, making it free oncemore.Theclassic, albeit dated, workoffiction which deals with this idea is H.G. Wells War of the Worlds. In one of our playtest campaigns, the basic premise of the Ruin was that the Martians, as Wellsdescribed them, returned. Finding humanity on the verge of world war, they fomented this divisiveness, stoking human passions to further the ends of their own gigantic and passionless intellects. When the nations had set each other reeling in a dozen brushfire wars, Martian missiles were launched from translunar orbit, striking at targets in both superpowers territories. Each government assumed that the other was responsible. WWlll broke out, but within days it wasovershadowed by Planetary War II, as the great Martian landers touched down, disgorging the tripodal battle machines familiar from Wells history of the first conflict. With almost a century of continued research and development, the Martians possessed even more potent weapons than before. Their own experience of germ warfare, at the hands of Earths biosphere in their former invasion, had led them to develop human-compatible bio-weapons of their own for this return match. Alien fevers scythed down the dazed survivors of the human war. Now the planet is a wasteland, a wilderness. Martian centers dot the globe, each widely removed from the other. Between them, amidst the ruins, men fight to live, and await the day when they are strong enough to arise in rebellion against the masters. Here and there, men have turned their coats with a completeness never before recorded in the annals of treason. The Hunters serve the Martians, Janisaries who carry out the missions the aliens do not wish to undertake themselves. Why Hunters? You will recall that Wellss history intimates that Martians are carnivores. He was right. The alien conquest campaign may not appeal to everyone. Players have reported feeling intense helplessness when confronted with the monolithic power of the Martians. But it provides two important factors to the campaign: alien technology allows the Gamesmaster to introduce artifacts beyond our own ability to develop, and a single goal confronts those Players who have undertaken to follow the Promise of new birth: cast out the invader! The Alien campaigns will require a bit of rule-writing by the Gamesmaster: what kind of alien is involved, their goals, how their devices work, and which ones, if any, can be take over by humans. The Martian Campaign has evolved a whole series of designs for various models of the tripods, for example, each with its special strengths and weaknesses. We have found that the time invested in this activity will beamply repaid by a fast-moving, very unusual campaign.
A TWIST IN SPACE
Earth swims silently through the endless cosmos. Infinite in scope, can we say that its secrets will ever reveal themselves fully? Can we be sure that fate, or our own apecurious probings of those secrets, will not one day alter life on Earth into a new form, shattering the old life forever? Should our world violently transmigrate into a new dimension or a twist in space, suffering outrageous stresses upon its very fabric, triggering quakes, storms, mountainous waves, thiswould in itself bea Ruin in thegrand tradition. But as the battered survivors drag themselves out from beneath the rubble of their civilization, there are other changes to consider. They share a world with the creatures of dream-or nightmare! Vampire shapes flit on bat wings through the night. Dragons dwell beneath theearth. The Little People are a folk-tale no more, but a living reality. Dormant within
THE ALIENS
The less-likely campaign premises include at least one classic: Earth enslaved, a conquered world under the
humanity since the elder days, the forces we call magic are now there for those who would plumb their dark secrets. A force of enchantment is loose in the world and shall not be put back. This may sound far-fetched, but at least one post-Ruin trilogy. Fred Saberhagens Changling Earth books, (now collected as Empire of the East), is set in exactly this kind of world. The protagonists of this series use the forces of magic and the ancient, mysterious technology to combat the despotic Empire of the East. Those of you who prefer the scintillating charms of a traditional fantasy campaign to the harder-edged world of a realistic Aftermath! game should consider the hours of fascinating play to be had by combining the two concepts. As with most of the more exotic scenarios, this will require some extra homework. An occult science will have to be designed or adapted from an existing Role Playing Game. Scores must be worked out for fantasy creatures, and their powers carefully quantified. The Gamesmasterwill probably want to edit the technology available to the characters, SOaS to preserve a balance between the new magic and the old science. Each set of Skills should have areas of competence denied to the other, so that sorcerer and engineer alike have unique abilities, granting great power to the man who can combine knowledge in both fields.
campaign retain any knowledge of the old ways? I s electricity familiar, sacred, taboo, or forgotten? The more fragile devices of the pre-Ruin time will be mostly junk, unless newly retrieved from sealed and near-perfect storage. The cities will probably be places of awe, dangerous with outlaws, mutants, ancient contaminations, and the rest. If gunpowder is not a lost material, the best a character can hope to find of local manufacture will be a muzzle-loader. Themodern firearms, and the ammunition forthem, will be coveted prizes brought back by the adventurers who dare the old sites in search of treasure. As the generations pass in the mutagen-filled post-Ruin environment, the Changed, human and otherwise, will have grown in power and development. Psionic abilities undreamt of will manifest themselves. Beasts will be altered in a hundred wonderful ways. To take only one example, the Master Rats will doubtless be well on their way to becoming a major competitor for Homo Sapienss place in the sun. As uncontested rulers of the cities in some areas, they may be heir to more of the ancient technology than its blood descendants, living in tribal communities or crudely-walled cities on the distant plains. The 200 Years After Campaign permits many of the factors of a pure fantasy campaign (chivalric codes, heroic ideals, swashbuckling) t o be combined with the technological wonders of Aftermath! The Gamesmaster may construct his game-civilization without reference to the culture that spawned it, for apart from certain old sayings and obscure name derivations, the primitive world of the campaign is created out of whole cloth. The bibliography contains numerous listings of books set in such cultures, as it does works dealing with all the topics we have covered so far. A description of a medium-sized 200 Years After Community may help illuminate some aspects of such a campaign.
The Bul People: the Story

Living in the East Central portion of Twobomz Valley, an area bounded on all sides by high mountains or lethal Blast Barrens, where the Demons of the Fawlout still seek the lives of men, the Bul People number about 2500. They are Masters of Trade among the Valley tribes in the fields of animal products from their great riding Buls (mutated cattle) and fine glass, produced from the silicates of the nearby desert. This latter technique is a closely-guarded secret of their Guildmen. Armed primarily with Lance, Bow, and Axe, the Warmen of the tribe are also noted for their skill with Musket and Pistol, but such weapons are not used in intertribal conflicts, being accounted as cowardly weapons for combat between warriors. The Bul People worship a pantheon with several principal gods leading it: Volta, God of Lightning, whose priests have magics that sometimes make the old devices found by travelers work again; Telgraf, whose priests seem able to send news across the valley in hours, their temples being regarded as inviolate centers of information in all the tribal cities; Rengen, God of Protection, who warns of the presence of the Demons of the Fawlout. Those gaining the favor of the priests of this latter deity may be given amulets for use when penetrating the Blast Barrens in serach of the old magic. These amulets scream when the Demons are near, warning the bearer to flee for his life lest they curse him with the Sickness. Vinz, of the Bul People, is a young Warman, trained in the fighting and hunting arts of his people. He owns several pieces of the ancients magical armor, heirlooms in his family, a fine WarBul for riding, and assorted handweapons. On the last tribal raid on their neighbors, heacquired a brace of flintlock postols, with powder and ball for over a dozen shots. He is a well-respected young fighter, but there is doubt about his sanity. He continually asks about things that
As you can see, Aftermath! need not be limited to the modern survivor scrabbling grimly through the ruins of his old world. The Gamesmaster can fit his campaign to hisown view of what will provide an exciting game for the group under his guidance, mixing the concepts listed above and adding his own creative genius to the stew, stirring with patient testing, adding more spice of adventure, to deliver a finished dish to the table capable of pleasing the most demanding Role-Players taste.
THE YEARS TO COME Long After the Ruin

Once the Gamesmaster has decided what the Ruin was, he must decide when it was! The standard period used for most Aftermath! designs in the basic rules posits what we call the First Generation Campaign. This usually places the Ruin about 20 years or so in the past, so that older characters are yet living who remember the pre-Ruin world in all its glory. But the apocalyptic literary tradition abounds with works set generations after the Ruin they speak of. In the absence of organized centers preserving the old knowledge, or an environment where public avowal of such knowledge is tantamount to suicide, due to an anti-intellectual backlash (Its the Scientists fault! Lets kill em all!) then in only a few generations mankind could slip back into barbarism. We have spoken to this briefly in the Player Essay in Book 2. The Gamesmaster who undertakes such a campaign has extra work to do. He must decide how much of the ancient science is still known, and by whom. Do the normal cultures of the
any well-balanced individual takes for granted. It comes as no surprise t o the tribal elders, the Shamen, that Vinz has volunteered to the a Scout, one of those who search the Blast Barrens for old magic, to give the tribe more mana by the possessing of ancient artifacts. As his presence i n the city is a worry to some of the more orthodox leaders, he will probably be allowed to undertake the task, but if there is indeed some hope that he will perish in the dangerous mission. he may not receive some of the special magics that will better his chances of survival.
form of the Eye mutation, allowing full night vision without the attandant sensitivity to normal light), and the Jonzons have pure white hair. Vinz might have oneor both of these traits, as well as any other Changes thecampaign allows to characters. Mutated humans living in savagery (Blast Demons, in the valley parlance) would pose a threat to the tribal cultures. Strange mutations among plants and animals could also make life somewhat exciting for travelers. But the genetic juggling following the war will also throw up a few blessings. The Buls from which Vinzs people take their name are huge cattle, with shaggy coats (Armor Value 5), great strength and endurance, and two wickedly sharp, hard horns, which act as lances in the full charge favored by the Warmen. These creatures provide food, clothing, fuel for fires, building materials, etc., to the tribe, as the buffalo did for the Plains Amerindian of the pre-settler Western U. S. In beginning such a campaign, the Gamesmaster will do well to build one tribe (or other culture) in detail, assuming all Player Characters to be natives of that society. A small area should be mapped out. including one or more neighboring tribes, and several places of mystery or interest, such as a small ruined city from before the Ruin, an area haunted by bandits, astretch of mutant jungle filled with strange creatures for the young heroes to hunt, and perhaps an ancient military base or other site of much magic, where the characters can pit their wits and courage against the full might of the old technology, say under the control of some advanced security computer, with a few working robots (Spirit Warmen) to make life interesting. As he feels ready to extend the campaign beyond the confines of thisarea, the Gamesmaster can start rumors of great adventures in more distant lands, send caravans from far-off places traveling through, entice the characters onto automated rapid-transit systems that just happen still to be working, etc. Great care should be taken in the early days of the campaign to describe technological artifacts in terms that the characters would use. They will probably recognize a modern gun as a firearm if they have similar weapons themselves, but they would not necessarliy recognize a mortar. Nor will they be adept at operating even familiar items at first. A magic rifle that fires many times is great in a fight, until you have to try t o figure out how to reload. And what is the steel box with soft wheels for? If you have never seen an ignition key, how long do you think it will taketo get a car started? Such research should be assigned a Task Point value and a Task Period based on the number of potential false starts in solving the problem. If thedevice has asimpleon/off button, it will not be too long a Task to figure out that if you push it, something will happen. If the control panel happens to belong to a 747, the Task Period could be weeks at a time, if it is not just impossible without some source of outside knowledge. In the 200Years Afterlcampaign, knowledge is power in a very real sense. The Gamesmaster should be pretty generous with old books, active computerized teaching machines, crazy old hermits with technological training, and so on. Mastery of the old knowledge should be difficult, but not impossible.
The Real Story of the Bul People

The Bul People and their neighbors live in a valley formed by the tectonic activity triggered by nuclear warheads on local fault lines. This area was not exposed to direct attack nor to the weather patterns carrying deadly fallout. They are the descendants of survivors of an NBC war, reverted to a tribal society and generally low technology. They do possess gunpowder, and the knowledge of metallurgy to make muzzle-loading firearms, as well as good steel weapons and armor. Certain other skills (such as glassblowing) have also been preserved. High technology is regarded as magical. The only places where some understanding of its operation survives are in the various temples (Volta, God of Lightning, is the front for a small Solar Screen power station; Telgrafs priesthood maintains working telecommunication between his temples; Rengens cult sprang from a civil defense group who still have some geiger counters and nuclear decontamination gear). The priests use this knowledge to hold their positions of power, and do not react well to laymens attempts to study the ancient skills. Vinz is a misfit. A well-trained warrior, he has the itch to learn how things were before The Blast (TwobomzValleys term for the Ruin). This does not endear him t o the priesthood, who are overjoyed that he wants to go out into the radioactive hell beyond the valleys mouth. They will not aid him in his quest, and if he returns with too much knowledge, they may well try to cast him out oreven kill him, as a heretic. The Gamesmaster in this campaign posited the following things:
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In the murderous competition for arable, radiation-free land after the war, the survivors combined into small groups, possibly several familes that had lived close together before the Ruin. They gravitated toan area in the newly-formed valley, which must have been a hellishly hostile landscape in the first days of its existence, but one which was free of fallout or bio-contamination, dug in, and held off all outsiders. This tradition, that all strangers are dangerous because they compete for limited survival resources, has held to the campaigns time; hence the fierce raids on other tribes, and the equally fierce insularity opposed to intrusions. Since the early survivor groups, the proto-tribes, had almost no intercourse with other groups, only those skills which could be passed from one member of the group to another survived. This has led to small amounts of trade in recent years, the Bul People trading the glass which is their monopoly to, say, the Gorge Folk up the valley, who make the finest steel in the area. Mutations in the inbred tribes were strongly reinforced in the early generations, with the culling process ruthlessly applied by both men and nature t o weed out the contrasurvival changes. It would be quite normal for a group of strains to exist tied to certain bloodlines, so that a characters ancestry would determine what his chances of having a given mutation were. Vinz, for example, is of the Smits family line, with links to the Jonzon family. The Smits have a dominant trait of Night Eyes (an advanced
Hope for the Future

We discussed the Promise at some length in the Players article in Book 2. The Gamesmaster must also come to terms with this idea. If Players are working along lines of reconstruction i n the campaign, even if it is less organized than it might be, as will certainly be the case for early characters in a 200 Years After campaign, it behooves the Gamesmaster t o be somewhat supportive of their efforts. He should allow them to engage in such activities as locating
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and occupying personal holdings, areas they can use as a base of operations, and around which they can potentially set up Communities. The challenges in such activity will be many: food and water must be available for the group, the location must be defensible, skilled technicians must be enticed to join to support the artifacts used for power, medical facilities are needed, etc. This is something that can be gradual, an effort that the Player Characters must maintain over years of game time, if it is to haveany lasting result. Sincethe Promise is the work of generations, it is not likely that a dull era of peace or new civilization will end the adventures of the campaign due to the characters efforts. It is not the kind of result that is going to come about rapidly. Characters will fight and die for the Promise without ever seeing it happen. All they can try to do is give it a start. It took western civilization almost 300 years to start growing again after the Fall of Rome, a blow of much less earth-shattering consequences than the Ruin. Gamesmasters who do not want to get into the full ramifications of such Player activity may wish to set up one or two centers of new growth that the characters may throw in their lots with. Since he is in full control of the progress of these enclaves, the Gamesmaster can set up raids by other groups, famines, plagues, etc., without automatically engaging the Players in such activities, as would be the case if the Players were in full control of the community. But Players who are prepared t o d o the logistic work in setting up a center should be allowed to do so. They must account for feeding their population, acquiring tools, weapons, medicine, etc., along lines laid down by the Gamesmaster, and be ready to do the bookkeeping for such expansion. The driving force in bringing new characters, Non-Player Characters, into the community, will be the Charismatic Talent of some Player Character. Such a leader figure should be a person that people can follow, an organizer, someone to inspire his people. The Player should get some idea of what kind of experience the leader must have, if he is trying to build such a character, and he and the Gamesmaster should go over the idea in some detail. It should not be possible to start a character in this shape. He may be designed to have the right Attributes and Talents, but the Reputation and Skills that will fit him for the job must be acquired in the course of play, as are the resources necessary to establish the community. As the group increases its numbers and wealth, it will become more and more noticeable to the human predators who haunt the ruins. Attacks by bandit groups, expansionist Communities, and plain old hordes of scavengers will become a probelm. As the numbers and firepower involved increase, the size of the conflicts will grow into the Tactical Battle scale. The military leadership of the community must be quantified, and the Gamesmaster can fairly insist that the construction of the army and the handling of battles bedone by the Players. Thus, the various Military Command Skills should not be neglected by those who would set up their own Communities. It is hardly sporting to throw enormous forces of NonPlayer soldiers at the new community. The Gamesmaster should roll Reaction Dice to gauge the danger of the TSP of attackers Force when compared to the Player-controlled Army, whether or not it is a Custom Army. Communities in such campaigns as the Alien Conquest will also be in danger of attracting the attention of the invaders. This should be set up as a probability derived from the technological level of the community, its size, and the amount of overt action it takes against the aliens. Character can fit into an existing community in various ways. Goals might be in complete agreement or diametrically opposed. Advancement within the community might come easily or be opposed. Sometimes the constraints placed on the Player Characterswill be unacceptabletothem.
Of course, Players may also be interested in setting up less-than-enlightened groups themselves. The methods they use to gain population or resources can extend with ease to robbery, Troll work, slavery, etc. This idea may not be appealing to some. In operating the campaign, the Gamesmaster will soon find that some goal, some reason to survive, is a necessity. The Promise is the most viable of the many possibilities, and can itself take many forms. The footloose adventurers who want to know what there is to knaw in the new world fulfill the Promise as much as those who try to save only a few square miles of it from the darkness. Those who give their energies to fulfilling any ideal, noble or not, will find that it fuels their character motivations to an extent that simply trying to survive cannot. The Gamesmaster should encourage such play with scenarios designed to let characters follow through on their dreams, and by writing the plot of the campaign to tell stories with room for those goals in them.
PACING THINGS
The overall view of the campaign is one thing, but when it is boiled down into its basic components, any Role Playing Game consists of a series of discrete adventures, which will relate to an overall history according to the campaigns culture and the deeds of the Player Characters. These are the scenarios. At first they should be fairly short and to the point: There is a bunch of bandits holed u p in theold warehouse on the south side of town. They say that old Army base has some good weapons still in it. If the Master Rats there havent found them. As the Players and Gamesmaster gain familiarity with the rules, and the driving concepts behind their campaign become less nebulous, the scope of the scenarios can expand: That bunch of goons you wiped out last month? They belonged to the Cartel, over in New Jarvis. Theyve put a price on your head. The Regis Commune is offering a reward for anyone who can supply them with Solar Screens. There is a trader caravan hiring guards to head out to the Lake Communities. Such challenges can impel the characters to travel to the new locations the Gamesmaster has prepared, either because their current one is getting unhealthy, or because there are greener pastures in the new site. Of course, either the local threat or the distant attraction can be nonexistent, founded on the hyper-active rumor mill of the inhabitants of the Aftermath. A scenario can be a straight challenge, or have a definite mission attached. In either case, risks overcome should carry proportionate rewards, although this is not an absolute rule. If you knock a 75-year-old guard over the head, he should not turn out to be protecting a years supply Of Polycellulac-4. If you have to fight your way through 50 heavily-armed fanatics, they would not have been defending 3 flat tires and a copy of Newsweek. In terms of loot, especially combat gear, keep in mind that winning the fight can indeed lead directly to commensurate reward. Unless you had to blow the opponent up to kill him, his armor and weapons will usually be intact. Stripping the fallen of their gear can swiftly enrich the characters beyond any need on the Gamesmasters part to add more goodies to the pot. This can lead to further complications in itself. Lugging a small arsenal around for later barter will impede the characters considerably. They may have to face Hobsons Choice, leaving valuable goods lying around where they are certain to be snapped up by scavengers, or carrying them around so
that they are easy prey for robbery, as the characters stagger full-loaded around the hazard-infested Ruins. The need for a place to store or trade goods on an organized basis should motivate most Players to seek a Community or personal stronghold that will maintain fairly good relations on a constant basis, so that they can dispose of loot as it accumulates. As characters increase in power (firepower or otherwise), it is important that the scenarios they face grow in complexity. Situations where guts and cleverness are more important than brute force are not difficult to contrive. Limited space, or foes who are resistant to gunfire, coupled with some kind of mystery, can pose a greater challenge that simply upping the ante i n terms of how many guns they face in their next firefight.
The Vampires
These mutants, altered by biological agents or radiants, are not the supernatural creatures their names would lead one to expect. They are gifted with extreme strength and fast reaction time. They have both the Eye and Ear mutations given in the Changed rules. Membranous growths along their sides allow them to glide, rather like flying squirrels, at an airborne BMA of about 3,losing 103 meters of altitude per 30 mleters of distance covered (they can lose altitude faster if they desire). They have extremely high DRT, and are immune to all known biological weapons and diseases. They wear little armor, since they cannot encumber their wings, but will use helmets and can buckle protection over Locations 8-12, where the arrangement of the membranes allows some constriction. WT WL STR DFT SPD HLH 50 25 30 60 15 15 BAP MNA PCA CDA DRT Shock Factor 1 5 3 5 3 110 20 (The above statistics represent the average vampire. Add l D l 0 or even 2D10 for Leader types among this race.) The vampires are not a large group yet. Their infection may be passed on by their bite, as in the old legends, but this is a disease, formula 1-(+)-1 Day-3-3 Days. Its symptoms are Weakness, sensitivity to light (treat as an Eye once the Advance exceeds the Health AST), and coma once the Advance exceeds the Health CST. Crisis will cause death in the normal sense, but the body will regain consciousness as a Vampire-mutant 1D3 days after death. The victim who is killed by the vampire (or anyone else) before the disease runs its course is just dead. Since the Vampires are usually hungry, they do not often expand their race, preferring to finish the meal completely. They will seek to render their victim unconscious, or even dead if they can do it without wasting too much of his blood. When dining off a victims veins, roll l D l 0 0 to see how much of his blood they drain. The score rolled is the percentage of the victims full DRT (not effective DRT) they will take. If losing that many points will kit1 him, the victim dies. If hesurvives, check to see if he is infected. Most of the Vampires will use weapons doing Crush or Combination damage, to avoid too much blood loss in their victims. They do like Lasers, since these cauterize their wounds, avoiding the wastage of food. Some Vampires see themselves as the homo superior, the next step in mans evolution. These will tend to control their hunger better, in order to make more like themselves.
THE UNEXPECTED
We will close by pointing out that the demands made upon the Gamesmasters creative imagination are continuous in a Role Playing Game. Scenarios should not be different versions of the same basic plot, with new backgrounds; they should be entirely new experiences. The proliferation of strange new phenomena and creatures can aid in keeping the Players in a constant state of both curiosity and apprehension, as can new and weird physical locations. We give several interesting types of threat below, to spark the imagination of Gamesmasters in designing their own strange inhabitants for the Aftermath.
The Burning Ones

Mutated humans (?) who are impregnated with intense radiation. They evince no fixed purpose but are, as far as fragmentary studies by post-Ruin science can tell, dead creatures motivated by the impulses impregnating their nervous systems. They exhibit an uncanny ability to locate organic, animal life. They will attempt to eradicate thesource of this attraction. Burning Ones are not possessed of DRT as such. They must be hacked to pieces to be stopped, and even then the tissues are still intensely hot. WT
WL
STR
30
DFT 10
SPD 10
HLH
BAP MNA PCA CDA DRT 5 1 5 1 They will bludgeon at a figure using Brawling, with a BCS of 10. They use no other weapons. The Burning Ones radiate a field of (10100 x 10) + 500, or 510-1500, REM per Hour, t o a distance of 10 meters. When struck on any Location of a limb and taking 10 points or more of Lethal Damage, the limb will be severed. The creature will only stop moving towards living things when both arms and legs are gone. Severing the neck will not reduce its insensate drive to move toward other beings, nor do its perceptions seem to require the use of its eyes. It will keep moving and attacking. The Burning Ones have a base BMA of 1, which is reduced by .25 per limb severed. Characters have a 10% chance of being contaminated when they strike a Burning One. They will be exposed to 10% of its total REM per Hour score, until they havediscarded the contaminated item or washed thoroughly in running water. Roll 1D100 when striking. A score of 01-50 means the weapon is contaminated; a 51-75 means a random Location has been spattered, contaminating the piece of armor covering the Location; 76 or higher, both the weapon and a random Location are spattered. Each item or location will carry a 10% charge of radiation, so that 3 such contaminations means that the character is exposed to 30% of the Burning Ones total score of radioactivity. Subdual Damage or missile damage of any kind (mechanical or firearms) does not affect Burning Ones. Lasers will slice them up as they can do to any target.
Gizmos
These are automated devices of any kind which have suffered program change or degradation. The Cybernetics section (p. 38) discusses the heavier forms of such machinery, with deliberately programmed changes. Gizmos are, say, automated vacuum cleaners, industrial size, which have become programmed to attack anything with dirty feet. At some 5-10 kph, they will zoom along a corridor to bash a newly arrived intruder with dusty boots. Depending on the level of automation achieved in the preRuin culture, Gizmos can be anything from televisions to buses, rampaging around the city or lying in wait for the unwary, only needing the strange trigger that the Gamesmaster has designated to send them into a weird attack on the characters. More than one character in the playtest has been knocked silly by a contrary, automatic door slamming shut in his face after opening invitingly. The strange creatures listed above partake more of the nature of fantasy than of science fiction, and are included in these rules to reassure those who might otherwise hesitate to introduce such factors into their campaign. If it reads well, do it!
CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT

The maintenance of the post-Ruin environment, the destroyed cities, the deserted countryside, are a major part of the Gamesmasters job. If the characters are wandering and searching at random through the city, must he prepare maps of every block in detail? No, this kind of effort is only called for when an area contains some prepared adventure or place of interest. How then to measure the probabilities of finding some useful (or useless) item ready for salvage in a randomly-selected city block? Especially important are police and military installations, major transport nexi, subway stations if the city has such a system, etc. The more color and detail that is available, the better it is for the design of adventures, which need clearly-defined sites and borders for the detailed and tactical maps.
Room: The map should be on stock that will allow the Gamesmaster to write his own notations. The print should be clear enough to show through an overlay of highlighting color, since color-coding is the easiest method for differentiating areas as Residential, Commercial, etc., or for putting a forest, totally rubbled area, or what have you, on the map.
The City Map

A separate Scenario Pack is available from Fantasy Games Unlimited. It is asmall city, Littleton, mapped out to show principal communities, and locations known to contain features of interest. If the Gamesmaster is using thescenario city to start his campaign, he should divide the city into Commercial, Residential, and Industrial areas, noting the divisions carefully. Random search in a particular area will have particular results. There will come a time when the Campaign outgrows Littleton. The Gamesmaster will know it has come when he feels ready to tacklea real city with the techniques used in his Littleton. The archetypical Aftermath! campaign is centered on the Gamesmasters home city, or a city he knows well. This permits him to run a flowing, easy-playing session, and to bestow strange fates upon those places he dislikes. A s he has 10-20 years of pre-Ruin development to build into the city, he can alter enough of it to prevent the players from knowing everything about the citys layout. Hecan introduce locations not currently in existance (armories, government reservations, and so on) which will be the sites of character foraging in the scenarios. No matter the size or complexity of a city, the first step to setting up a campaign based there is procuring a fairly welldetailed map. Street maps made from aerial photographs are best, especially i f they show schools. museums, police stations, monuments, etc., etc. All such unique locales are grist for the scenario mill. Most of the testing for Aftermath! was conducted in two campaigns, running concurrently. One was set in rural New England, the characters moving through several cities as transients, but spending significant time in only one major municipality. The other confined its activity to Washington, D.C. The D.C. campaign was played on a 25-page street map of thecity, at2000tothe inch (1 kmtoabout4cm).Thescaleis about 25000:l. This proved quite satisfactory for overall mapping. The same scale was used in the map for the New England campaign, played from a national road atlas and a thick spiral-bound campers map of Rhode Island, which had the added advantage of showing contours and other major geological features not included in the Washington map. Be that as it may, the desirable features for the campaign map are:
Convenience: The map, or map book, should be of a size .and layout allowing the Gamesmaster to follow the characters progress on it easily, with a minimum of fumbling or squinting.
Having procured a suitable map, sit down and think about what overall situation you want to exist there. Is it anenclave city, where the survivors hold their communities in isolation, venturing out only at need, or do such survivors as dwell there move freely? We would advise discretion in scattering organized communities about in great numbers. Suddenly, adventurers are only an hour from succor in one direction or another. Consider this: the resources available in a given area of city are limited. If two communities come into contention for these resources, they must either join forces or fight. The results, as we see them, will run toward one of two extremes:
Enclave City
Small, widely separated communities. Each is fiercely independent, although trade and cooperation are not impossible. Four such enclaves in the D.C. campaign are signatory to a treaty providing protection for the medical community based at D.C. General Hospital. Inhabitants of enclaves are generally reluctant to become involved with affairs outside their turf,and the wastes of the city combine with this to constitute an effective barrier to travelers, with the notable exceptions of Player Characters, bandits and other human predators, and weirds.
Boss City
Some group or individual occupies a central power position in the city. This is usually a result of superior survival planning ability and/or firepower. The upshot of such a situation may well be an incipient feudal society, the Boss and his men being the aristocracy, offering protection, order, and military defense to those who in turn proffer obedience and a tithe of their products. The footloose adventurers who seem to be the bulk of Player Characters are unlikely to be very happy as permanent citizens of such a regime, although if they can establish good relations with the inhabitants, such cities would provide a useful base from which to operate on expeditions into other territories.
Size: The scale should be such that details are clear. The
larger the better, really. U.S. Geodesic Survey maps, cheaply available from the Government Printing Office, are ideal as far as scale goes, but lack certain other features.
The Condition of the City

Having established the overall nature of the parts of the city that survive as human communities, the Gamesmaster must deal with the rest of it. One of the premises used in the D.C. campaign was that the rate of growth of forest land was increased by a factor of 5 to 10 by the action of unforeseen
Details: Street names, the location of special features and sites, both are quite useful to the Gamesmaster.
combinations of biowar agents. Thus, parks became thick forests or jungles, and extended their boundaries for blocks. In some areas, questing tendrils of the jungle grew together, extending a barrier between parts of the city. Since Washington is possessed of a very extensive zoo, this forest is the habitat of a number of animals, both in their natural condition and with mutants among them. Lions roam the streets of the city, and charging rhinos have tried conclusions with jeeps. Certain areas of the city will be leveled, a wasteland of empty shells and rubble. This is not necessarily a product of the Ruin itself, for a primary element of Secondary Kill will be fires, raging out of control in cities with neither fire fighters nor water supplies. Rioting also accounts for a good deal of the wasting of real estate. It then remains to designate neighborhoods or larger districts by one or more of several gradations: Forest, Rubble, Residential, Commercial, Industrial, etc. This is best handled by lightly overlaying the map with color-coded highlighter, permitting the original streets and their names, and other map features, to show clearly through the colored inks. Pastel or lightly saturated colors should be used. A red overlay is a very clear marking, but may cause red-inked map inscriptions to disappear unless a very light shade of highlighter is used. So now our city map is ablaze with colors, having special locations marked out. Large communities have boundaries drawn in, covering whole blocks of territory. If the campaign is based on a ruin which left behind longterm, widespread contaminated areas, any such should also be shown on the map, possibly by another color code. A large radioactive zone, for instance, would fall into this category.
on some slightly crazy ideal. Many will be downright nasty, run by gangsters or worse, tight little oligarchies or minipolice states. In one playtest, we have built military dictatorships (two of them, one run by a National Guard colonel who thinks hes George Patton, and the other a real snake pit run by elements of the American Nazi Party); politically extreme communes of the Left (the United MaoistTrotsky Free University Peoples Cosmic Commune) and the Right (the little-known but much-feared group in Langley, Virginia, centered around the CIA Headquarters complex, whose roving brigades of Commie Stompers are the dread of scuzzy, longhaired adventurers all over D.C.); religious groups (a military school run by a certain winemaking order of priests and brothers has a nasty reputation as street fighters); and so on. There are sane, straightforward organizations around as well. Communities can be places where the Player Characters stop to rest, safe, for the time being, from the unremitting hazards of their world. They can be centers of trade, where barter can turn things the characters dont need into valuable weapons, ammo, and food. The only limits to the nature of the communities in the campaign are the space involved and the Gamesmasters imagination. But there are factors he will want to categorize for simclicitys sake in his records, and we will address these here.
Territory
This is the actual home ground occupied by the Community. It should be outlined on the Campaign map, labelled so he knows who it is at a glance. Communities will generally maintain a watch on their borders, according to their powers, and react to insure that approaching strangers pose no threat. This can be as simple as sending an official greeter to meet the strangers, or setting up a mortar to cover them and hailing them via bullhorn with a warning to stop and drop their weapons. It will depend a lot on the psychology of the Community.
The Residential Areas

These were sections of the city devoted to family dwellings and apartments before the Ruin. Their individual nature will depend much on the actual city and the culture of the preRuin society. Manhattan will be mostly high-riseapartments, probably fitted with very hefty internal defenses by 2000. Northwest Washington is mostly single-family houses of varying designs. They will tend to besources of light tools, Household Lines for salvaging electricity, commercial small arms, books, etc. The small stores and other commercial ventures in such areas are probably well-looted, although there might be a lot of good picking hidden under the rubble.
Size
A simple population figure will do, to get an idea of how many mouths there are to feed, and how large a population the characters are likely to see o n the streets of the groups territory when they come to call. A corollary of Size is the next factor to be considered.
Military Strength
This figure should be given in the number of TSP points the Community can field in a battle. The Military Strength an arbitrary figure which the Gamesmaster can assign to fit his own conception of what kind of fight the Community can put up, or can work out as a Custom Army. Our feeling is that 3O-8O0/o of the total population will be able to bear arms in a general war. The value of a TSP can be adjusted up or down to reflect the power of the weapons available to the Cgmmunity. Special note should be taken of any uniquc .dchines the Community can field: artillery, tanks, catapults, chemical weapons.
The Commercial Areas

These are the main business districts: larger stores, offices, government buildings, etc. They produce much of the same sort of thing as the Residential Areas, as well as more diverse manufactures, scientific equipment, and (unlikely as such things really are) such intriguing finds as still-live computer access points, working small factories, construction gear, and so on.
The Industrial Areas

The large plants, where heavy tools, high-power electrical sources, vehicles, and other large finds of machined parts can be located. Often such areas form the hideouts for the more technologically-oriented survivors, who may be keeping one of the installations running to produce items for use or trade.
Resources
Does the Community produce or control some special resource? Farming groups are of course rich in food, but how about manufactured products? The medical staff of the D.C. General Treaty Hospital were the areas prime suppliers of medical supplies and expertise, but were almost always short of certain fuels for their diminishing fleet of copters and ambulances. This entry should concern itself with special strengths or weaknesses of the Communitys economy. General considerations come in the next entry.
Communities
Not every survivor is a lone wolf. Human nature is such that within months of the collapse, there will be social groups springing up amid the ruins of civilizations. Some will be pragmatic organizations, devoted to survival and preserving the members lives in some comfort. Others will be motivated by strange drives, holding on to the last shredsof their sanity by their fingernails, probablyat thecost of unhealthy fixation
Trade
Is the Community interested in trade at all? If so, are they
pretty sharp or are they easy marks for a smooth line? The Gamesmaster should note the following: e Expertise of the Communitys chief traders. BCS scores should be generated in Commerce. .Areas in which they will not trade. eThe percentage chance of having a given item. This can be based on the Utility classifications in the Search rules. Let us say that they have a 40% chance of having any kind of weapon. The characters ask about 45 ACP ammo. Roll 1D100. Score equals 73. Sorry, buddy, nothing for a while in that caliber.Howabout223fortheM-l6? Dieroll gives a 22, so its in stock. Using the ammo generation rules from the Gun List, we find that they have a box of the ammo in stock. And so it goes. Things that the Community is noted as using itself will cost much more than the basic barter values. Junk they have been keeping just to trade will be cheap. Things they really need will often get a better price than the characters expected. They may refuse to trade at all in items essential to their survival or outside of their areas of interest.
bunch of expansionists, held back from their lebensraum dreams by the well-armed Pentagon survivors on the river bank to their north, and the fiercely independent Mormons who are building a farming community on the west. Travelers are not generally allowed in the Community limits, being put up at the half-collapsed Howard Johnsons down route 1-95. The elite of the Community are the Party members, led by the Rockwell, their Fuehrer. With a slave economy, they are a bad group to deal with except from a position of strength. Raids on distant groups are not unknown, although the Hitlerville leadership is careiul not to be too blatant about it closer to home. Example 2: Name: The Aggies Slze: 400 Military Strength: Nil Resources: The Aggies occupy the old University Experimental Farm complex. They are the primary breadbasket for the whole city. Like the Treaty Hospital, they do not maintain troops of their own, and are protected by combined elements of neighboring Communities, who recognize the Aggies value to their own survival. Trade: The Aggies will trade out only foodstuffs, although they have a packaging plant in operation on the grounds, and can produce any form of food from fresh out of the ground or off the steer, to Freeze-Dried. They will not accept payment in weapons, being an essentially pacifistic group, although ruthless with food thieves. General Reaction: +15 Background: The survivors who started the Aggies were of the old Farm Communephilosophy, but with an apprieciation for modern agronomy as a science. They are not fanatics on the subject of organic farming or natural foods, but use the best technology they can get to work their immense acreage. They are known to have a Solar Screen installation of indeterminate size, from which they get power to operate their farm equipment, which is mostly electric. They will pay double price for parts for such gear, which is getting harder to come by each year. Only rarely will an Aggie leave the territory of his group. They are clannish in the extreme, with very intricate social rituals. But non-hostile strangers will find them affable enough. They will never refuse The Three Squares to a starving traveler, for they find the idea of starving to death repugnant. Those in such plight will be offered 1 days rations at no charge.
General Reactions
This is a flat modifier to dealing with outsiders, added to the Reaction Die rolls. A very suspicious, hostile enclave will have a negative modifier. An outgoing community, one devoted to trade, let ussay, orwith a numberof commissions for freelance adventurers, will tend to have a decently high positive modifier.
Background
A few brief paragraphs or pages of detailed description. This is a text outline of the principal characters in the Community, the type of rulership maintained, the overall thrust of the group, and any notable adventures to be found within its borders. It fleshes out the bare bones of the other data to provide an atmosphere uniquely the Communitys own.
Example 1 Name: Hitlerville Size: 1200 Military Strength: 250 2 Commando Armored Cars Resources: Busy industry, producing explosives, including some hand grenades. Runs very skilled Search groups, composed of slave labor under welltrained guards, on scavenging runs into Northwest D.C., producing mixed amounts of material for internal use and some trade. Trade: will not export weapons, except light sporting rifles (Rimfire or Shotguns). 30% chance of most gear being available, but payment in anything but armament is at 1.3 times base value. They willpay double the base value for gasoline for their Armored Cars. The Community also maintains a small fleet of trucks and motorcycles, for which they will buy alcohol fuel at 50% above base value if it is in appreciable quantity (say 10 gallons or more). General Reaction: -20 (dont tell me youre surprised) Background: Run by the local survivors of the American Nazi Party, the Community is a frustrated
The simple outlines that the Gamesmaster starts with will grow as his Players interact with the Communities. The neoNazis of Hitlerville have crossed the paths of our Player Characters more than once, and we now have developed the standard uniform and equipment of their soldiers, the usual systems of slave treatment they use, and hints of the Rockwells master plan to take over his side of the river, as elements of the D.C. campaign.
1 0
SEARCHING AND FORAGING

The Players must designate the scope of their search: a single building, a house, a city block. Let us say that a block represents the largest feasible unit for a given search attempt. The basic operation involved in completing a search is handled by treating it as a Task. The Task Points involved are equal to the area of the searched area i n square meters (round the actual measurements to any convenient sum in the right neighborhood). The average city block is 100-150 meters long. Multiply this by a constant based on the type of environment: Forest or other Rural Environment: 2D6 + 5 Rubble: 1 + 1D3 Residential: 1D10 (representing the range of space between single houses and apartments) Commercial: 3D6 Industrial: 2D6 Divide this figure by the total sum of the Search BCSs of all those characters involved in the search, multiplied by the number of minutes i n one turn of searching, a time-scale to be set by the Gamesmaster and the players. This represents the number of Task Points to be fulfilled before Search Skill rolls are made to see if anything has been found. Base a BCS equivatent on the characters Natural Talent (as a score, not a BCS) if he lacks the Search Skill. In one turn of searching, each member of the party engaged in the activity will roll a Wit Effect Die, totalling the scores to see how many Task Points they have totalled in that period. When the accumulated points indicate that the Task has been finished, a Search Skill BCS roll is made by the leader of the search. See Search Skillon page 18 of Book 2 for modifications. Additionally, a BCS penalty equal to the Task Points/lO, nearest, is applied to the roll. If it succeeds, the party has found something. If multiple parties are being used on the same chunk of territory, they go through this process individually, building up their Task Points and rolling for finds (and perhaps having encounters) on their own. Frank, Irene, and Jumbo are out foraging. They have decided to tackle a block of office buildings in the Commercial district. The building they have chosen is, the Gamesmaster decides (purely at random, based on his personal knowledge of that part of his city), a big one, half a block on a side. At a standard scale o f 100 meters per block, that is a building a 50 meters per side, for a 2500 square meter search area. In a Commercial area, this is multiplied by the roll of 306. The die roll result is a 10, for a total of 25000. Now, Frank has a Search, Urban BCS of 18. Irene, a very survival-wise kid who grew up in the mean streets, has a BCS o f 7. Jumbo, with a country upbringing (he drifted into town when a biker raid wiped out his farming community), has no Search Skill, but a Natural Talent o f 17. for a BCS equivalent of 3. This totals 28 (18 + 7 + 3). They decide to search in 1-hour Turns, which are, o f course 60 minutes. 60 x 28 = 1680. 25000/1680 = 14.88, rounding to 15. At the end of 1 hour of searching, they roll their Wit Effect dice (1010, 106, and 103 respectively). The total rolls add up to 13, so they have not achieved a significant chance to salvage anything yet. After their second hour, the points amount to 13 from the last period, and rolls totalling 17 from this one. That is 30, or two Tasks worth, so they will make two Search rolls. Frank is the Search leader, since he has the best score. With two helpers, one Skilled herself and one not, the Gamesmaster decides to be moderately generous and give him +2, for an effective BCS o f 20. But since the search has a Task Value of 15, there is a 15/70, nearest, or 2-point penalty attached. So Frank is using his base BCS of 18. His first roll is 4, so they got something out of it. His second roll is a 20. The Gamesmaster may let this go as a simple nothing result, or toss them a find they can do without (Were you actually looking for that lion?) for the Critical Miss. Likewise, a Critical Hit might mean that they find two items, or a better kind of item. If they were looking for something specific, such as the first food they have seen in days, he might adjudicate that that is what they found.
Cleaning Places Out

Based on the type of area and the size of the search zone, the Gamesmaster may assign an arbitrary number of possible finds to it. A house-to-house search in a Residential area might find 0-2 items per house. A day-long run through a block in a Commercial area might hold a D10 + 10 potential finds, though that is not to say that the characters will locate them all. As the city is a constantly fluid environment, old caches of gear being salvaged daily, characters dying to leave their own supplies lost in a hideout somewhere, there is no guarantee that what was empty last month will be so today, or the stash that the characters left behind yesterday hasnt been hit today. There would logically be a class of scavenger that moves with search parties, gleaning their trails clean of left-overs. The Gamesmaster need feel no compunction on allowing, say, 1 Search attempt per area for Rubble zones. If that does not find anything, then there is nothing to find. Moreover, he may find before the first Search turn is done that the site holds no loot. He can let the characters hunt until they drop, without feeling obligated to inform them that the reason they cant find anything is because anything isnt there.
11
UTILITY
We discussed Utilityas a concept in the various Equipment rules in Book 2. It carries over to the quality of finds made in foraging. Regrettably, the vast range of possible finds makes it impossible for us to give overmuch detail here. The following rules will act as a guide to the Gamesmasters imagination in deciding what the characters have found. Gamesmasters are encouraged to expand the Utility lists. A Sears Roebuck catalog, or some similar map of the vast array of possible goodies our technology can provide for those who are picking its bones, will beof tremendousvalue.
CLASS OF FIND TABLE (Roll D100)

Class of Find
Food Luxuries Weapons FueVPower Clothes/Armor Tools/Kits Medicine Data/Communications Transport Environment Survival
Die Rolls: Rural 01 -20 21-25 26-40 41-45 46-50 51-65 66-70 71-72 73-80 81-90 91-00
Rubble 01 -05 06-10 1 1-25 26-35 36-40 41 -50 51 -55 56-65 66-80 81-95 96-00
Residential 01-15 16-30 3 -40 1 41 -55 56-65 66-70 71-75 76-85 86-90 91-95 96-00
Commercial 01-10 1 1-25 26-40 41-45 46-55 56-65 66-70 71 -85 86-90 91-95 96-00
Industrial 01 -05 06-10 1 1-20 21-30 31 -35 36-50 51-55 56-70 71-85 86-95 96-00
These are only the crudest approximations, of course. Other classifications of area types might include Government, Military, Mining, Waterfront, etc., each with its areas of wealth and poverty in potential loot. Having determined the class of material found with the above table, it only remains to roll to determine the Utility of the item.
UTILITY TABLE (Roll D20) Die Roll 1

2 -4 5-7
Hazard
A dangerous situation has been encountered. This might be a structurally unsound building, a dangerous beast, hostile men or other characters encounter, a contaminated area, etc. The possibilities will be discussed more fully in the Dangers section o n page 16.
Result
Hazard located Utility 0 Utility 3 Utility 2 Utility 3 Utility 4 Utility 5 Cache
Die roll modifiers:

Rural Rubble Residential Commercial Industrial
+O
-2 +O -1 +O
8-10 11-13 14-17 18-19

20
Cache
A treasure trove has been discovered. This represents a hidden stock of various items, a working shop of some kind, a lab, a firing range with weapons, etc. The Gamesmaster must fill in the blanks according to the kind of area and the Overall nature of the find, although this latter area need not limit him. A Food Cache might also include contamination detectors and purification gear, for instance.
OPTION
Ownership
Especially when some valuable item has been found, or a Cache, there is a chance that it was stashed there by someone else. The Gamesmaster should construct a person or persons, or other logical owner (a Master Rat, perhaps) to whom the goods belong. He will have a 40% chance of discovering the characters busily looting his material; otherwise he will come upon the carnage of his hideout and track the thieves. The owner has a 5% chance per day cumulative probability of overtaking the characters. That means that, on the day they steal the goods, a Dl00 roll less than or equal to 05 indicates an avenging owner catching up to them. The next day, the chance is lo%, the day after that, 15%, and so on. Roll the chance of the owner catching them at the location of the stash once every hour that they are on the site.
12
CATALOGUE
The next set of lists are idea sheets for what the searchers have actually come across. If quantity is needed, roll a D20. The score represents a Group. The Effect Die roll for the indicated Group is the number of Units, or ENC, or items, or days worth of material, or what have you, that the characters have found. Caches double the Effect Die roll at least. Of course, if a working Lab or similar installation has been found, then there is usually only the one unit. If firearms or ammo have been found, their specific determinations have been given in Appendix 2.
WEAPONS
Generally, only one or two actual weapons are found. Ammunition and other supplies can be quantified in one of the ways given in the Appendices or this section. Utility 0 Hand-to-Hand weapons. Select a weapon from the lists under Equipment. The WDM is reduced by the weapons Utility x .1, since it is an inferior model. A Junked firearm. Dud ammo-it will not fire. Utility 1 A Utility 1 Hand-to-Hand weapon. A disrepaired gun. Faulty ammo. Critical Miss occurs o n a roll of 18-20 when firing. Weak ammo. Halve the BDG. Materlals to make a home-brewed explosive. Utility 2 A Utility 2 Hand-to-Hand weapon. Saturday Night Special: A working gun with a permanent Durability of 1. Rimfire ammo. Utility 3 A Utility 3 Hand-to-Hand weapon. A normal working gun. Ammunition (standard Ball Ammo or Shot Shell) Working explosives. Utility 4 A Utility 4 Hand-to-Hand weapon. Hi-Power, Hollow Point, or Fragmenting Ammo. Grenades, Mines, Rifle Grenades, and other explosive weapons. Features for firearms: Sights, Scopes, etc. Utility 5 Laser weapons. High Tech ammo (explosive, incendiary, etc.). Flame weapons. Anti-Tank weapons. Hand-reloading kits, and supplies of bullets, cases, powder, a swage unit, etc. Machine Guns, Mortars, Cannon, etc., are not o n the list. They are included in finds when and if the Gamesmaster feels ready to allow them in the campaign.
FOOD
Quantity determinations are in Days Rations for 1 man. Water supplies are assumed to be as much as they need, but the supply may not be there later. Utility 0 Spoiled foods. A portion of the food found is contaminated (1DlOO determines what proportion is spoiled. Contaminated Water source. Utility 1 Pure Water source. Utility 2 Fresh stock of natural foods (recently-killed animals or freshly-gathered or gatherable vegetable food). Utility 3 A stock of preserved natural food. Utility 4 Freeze-Dried food. Utility 5 Super-K Ration. Stocks of High-Energy Glucose solution, in disposable plastic packs. Used to speed recoveryof starvation or dehydration victims.
LUXURIES
Non-essentials that may have considerable trade value or may actually fall into other categories of goods. Utility 0 Junked household appliances or office supplies. Phonograph records. Stereo sets, etc. Bad liquor: causes Nausea for 1D3 hours if drunk. Utility 1 Home-fermented liquor (post-Ruin stock)-wine, beer, mead, not suitable for fuel. Jewelry. Objets dart. Working appliances. Utility 2 Home-distilled liquor, not suitable for fuel. Athletic equipment (not overly useful) such as tennis gear, pool table, etc. Utility 3 Pure grain alcohol (drive it or drink it). Packaged, pre-Ruin tobacco products. Working portable tape player and cassettes, or similar usable, batterypowered entertainment equipment. Luxury foods (caviar, nuts, candies). Utility 4 Pre-Ruin liquor (bourbon, scotch, etc.). Useful, non-technological sporting gear: low value plastic :armor such as football pads, baseball bats of wood or metal, camping gear, mountain-climbing equipment. Utility 5 A still (distilling apparatus) is found. Efficiency Factor of 1D3. Converts 5 units of corn, potatoes, etc., into alcohol equal to 1 liter per Efficiency Factor per hour. Double-distilled alcohol can be used as fuel. Electronic vices. Narco-headsets inducing sleep. Induction devices stimulating the pleasure centers of the brain. These have trade value, or can be used as pain killers, or modified to stimulate the pain centers (torture devices.) High technology sporting goods: guns (at the Gamesmasters discretion), SCUBA gear, hang gliders, boats, skydiving gear, racing equipment, etc.
F UE L/POW ER
Stocks of chemical fuels for vehicles, sources of electrical power, and so on. The Gamesmaster may have to juggle types and quantities to make the find logical for the area of the search. Utility 0 Dry and unrotted wood for fires. Also suitable for improvising torches. Utility 1 Irreparably damaged batteries. Crank-operated manual generator. Sterno or similar portable fire. Utility 2 Bicycle-operated generator. E-type Eternabatteries. Utility 3 Treadmill generator setup. Alcohol fuel (also drinkable with safety). Ev-type Eternabatteries. Utility 4 Salvageable electricity (live circuits) of wattage suitable to area of search. Motorized generator. Working wind or water generator, or parts for same if there is no logical reason for one to be set up. Gasoline or Hydride fuels. Utility 5 Leech transformer. Fuel Cells. Solar Screen panels.
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CLOTHES/ARMOR
Utility 0 Light cloth stock. Material which can be improvised into armor or shields. Utility 1 Stored clothing (Natural Materials). Max. Armor Value of 4. Utility 2 Heavy leather armors, light metals. Max. Armor Value of 7. Utility 3 Metal Armors up to Armor Value 10. Utility 4 Heavier metallic Armors. Plastics of Flexible or Semi-Rigid types. Utility 5 Rigid Plastic Armors. Integral Suits of Police and Military Armor. Protective Armors, Lazab and Anti-radiation sprayon units.
Utility 3 Reference books. Prepared designs for various devices and processes. Can be used to build the item with proper resources and Skills, with all design factors already done. Advanced Texts. Range is from 1 to 30 plus the roll of (D6 x 10). Manuals with BCS D10 + 6. Utility 4 Calculators. Mini-corn puters. Full Range Texts (01-100 point range). Manuals with BCS of D10 + 10. Utility 5 Computers or Data Access Points, terminals tied into working remote systems.
TRANSPORT
If the characters are deep in the center of a building block, they will just not find a transport system lying around, unless the Gamesmaster cares to adjudicate that they have floated into the garage in the basement. And isnt it a shame that the driveway up to the street is choked with rubble? Utility 0 Completely totalled, unsalvageable cars. Roller skates, skate boards. Pogo sticks. Utility I Muscle-powered vahicles: bicycles, tricycles. 40% chance that they are in kids sizes. Utility 2 Low-speed powered vehicles: mopeds, electric scooters. Junked car, parts are salvageable. Utility 3 Partially working or Disrepaired automobile. Low Durability i f it works at all. Utility 4 Working vehicle, No fuel in it. A horse (how did he get here?). Horse-drawn conveyances. Utility 5 Working vehicle in good repair. High Tech vehicles: rocket packs, mini-copters,
TOOLS/KITS
This is very free-form. The Gamesmaster should try to come up with a logical reason for the type of kit to be there. See the closing section on Favorable Finds for ideas. Utility 0 Crowbars, hammers, axes, and other miscellaneous tools. Utility 1 Repair and manufacture Kits of type 1. Crude lockpicks. Utility 2 Kits of type 2. Good lockpicks. Stethoscope for safecrackers. Utility 3 Magnalock tuner. Kits of type 3. Utility 4 Kits or shops of type 4. High-quality tools for lockpicking, etc. Memory storage Magnalock tuners. Utility 5 Full-scale shops, Labs, even working plants if the Gamesmaster so desires. Such finds, or Caches in such locations, would probably also hold a stock of finished products of such a plant.
ENVIRONMENT
The term applies to devices or materials which analyze or otherwise affect the characters environment. Utility 0 A Junked or Disrepaired item from a higher Utility on this list. Utility 1 Matches, detergents, other household goods. Utility 2 Optical gear (telescope, binoculars). Mine probes. Candles, oil lamps, other non-electrical light sources. Utility 3 Flashlights, other electrical light sources. Binary Detector gear (Yes/Nodetection of various radioactive, chemical, or biological contaminants). Mine-detecting equipment. Chemical testing kits for water, soil,etc., quality and contamination. Utility 4 Detailed readout detectors (detect presence and give formula of or intensity for the hazard). Various forms of intruder-alert systems (portable or non-portable). Burglar alarms, smoke detectors, etc. Utility 5 Radar installations. Enhanced Vision Optical devices (Star-Light or Inf ra-Red). H i g h - s e n s i t i v i t y l i s t e n i n g devices, e i t h e r microphonic (bugs) or remote (like a shotgun mike, capable of picking up a whisper at 100 meters).
MEDICINE
Utility 0 Stocks of bandages. Utility 1 Medical Supply units. Utility 2 First Aid Kit. Utility 3 Medical Kit. Utility 4 Drugs. Medical Computer. Defibrillator. Other Medical Technology devices. Utility 5 Surgery setup. Mobile surgeries (ambulances with clinical gear). Encephalographic Educators.
D ATA/C 0M M UN ICAT IO NS
Again, a rationale for what is found should be developed. The Gamesmaster will need to assign Skills and ranges to instructional materials. Utility 0 Fiction. Newspapers, magizines, etc. Used computer punch-cards. Utility 1 Maps (until Player Characters have found a map of the campaign city, the Gamesmaster may forbid them to use such a document as Players). Popular texts. Rated for 01-05 in their respective Skills. Utility 2 Beginners Texts. Have range starting atOl, plus roll of (D6 x 10). Manuals with BCS D6 + 6.
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Seismic alarms, triggered by the vibrations of footsteps on the ground at ranges of up to 500 meters.
Rain gear. Life preservers, inner tubes, etc. Utility 3 Mountaineering rope. Other climbing gear. Highway (or Railroad) flares. Sleeping bags, backpacks, pack frames, rucksacks, etc. Other containers, bottles, satchels, etc. Canteens. Compass. Utility 4 Backpackers tents, at half the Encumbrance of the normal type. Good thermal underwear (Thermal Factor 2). Light Cloth equivalent. Hiking gear: foam instep pads (+5 toeffectivespeed for Strategic Movement), alpenstock, etc. Axes, machetes, brush knives, collapsible saws, etc. Utility 5 Flare guns or other long-distance signalling devices. Electrically-heated underwear. Space heaters, electrical (uses E-5 at 1 Charge per hour). Inflatable life rafts, canoes, kayaks.
SU RVlVAL
This is a bit of a catch-all category. The Survival materials include such goods as winter clothing, camping gear, rope, cookpots, canteens, etc. Utility 0 Frayed thermal underwear (Thermal Factor 1.5). Gunny sacks. Twine or string. Old blankets (ENC of .4 bundled up). Utility 1 Small carrying sacks. Baggies. Light rope or clothesline. Heavy cloth overgarments for winter (Q-HC). Thermal Factor of 2. Mess kits. Eating utensils. Large glass bottles, flasks, jugs. Utility 2 Heavy rope. Shoulder bags. Web belts. Heavy cloth tents (1.2 ENC broken down for carrying). Holds 2-6 characters.
It goes without saying that these lists are a fraction, a microscopic minimum, of the possible finds a search Can turn up. All we can do in the space available is give the Gamesmaster fuel for his imagination in dealing with such events. The campaign depends on his ability to go through the mental operation of they found something like thiswhere are they-lets say theyre in a police station-Utility 1 Environment in a Police Station?-Aha!-Okay, folks, you have found a valise with a fingerprint detection kit in it. This is not too hard (nowhere as hard as it sounds), for those who can free themselves from a need for detailed tables and charts in determining loot. We are in the position where a whole city is there for the taking. If only a fraction of its former wealth remains, that is still a staggering diversity of goods. Dont be afraid to make up the story as you go along. Even i f you are later inconsistent, the flow of play will forgive much. So the place was too rich to clean out a week ago. That stuff they hid in a sub-basement will not necessarilystayput. Do the Players think they have the only competent scavengers in the city in their group? Oh, no, not by a long shot. The cache they left behind is fair game, and when the buildings are burning down almost weekly, why should they even expect the block to look the same when they come back? No, in the fluid world of Affermath! it is no problem to live for the moment in calling the shots. For every moment could be the characters last!
supplies, is not the answer). The fastest method of getting into the correct frame of mind to play Santa Claus is by rolling Reaction Dice. The better the Reaction, the more useful the find. This can even bea justification for increasing the amount of goods found, or their general utility to the group as a whole. For example, a party with decent hand-to-hand weapons but no guns gets a Weapons find. In such a case, the Gamesmaster might just roll Reaction dice first. If it comes out Good or better, just assume that they have found a firearm or two, and probably some ammo for it. A Mediocre roll would require that their Utility roll allow them to find guns. A Bad roll or worse would insist that, if they find a Weapon, it be something that none of them have the Skill to use well. The overall concept here is: is this just good for the characters, really great for the characters, or frustrating, mean, rotten, and crummy for the characters?
LOGIC OF FINDS
Let us say it just once more: try and provide a reason (even if it is only in your own mind) for the goods located being where they are. Fill in some cheap fiction to flesh it out. If the first couple of findsform a pattern, assume that it will hold for the rest of that search (a Medical Supply find might decide the Gamesmaster that they are looting a medical office building). This can, in turn, give background to the encounter they have next turn. The table says its a bunch of Ghouls. Well swell, but this way they are all crazy doctors, perverting their surgical skill to butcher their meat, and armed with anesthetic dart guns instead of normal firearms. This kind of thing turns random searching from a rather boring way to gain doctrinal treasures into an organic (sometimes overly organic) part of adventures in the world of the Aftermath.
QUALITY OF FINDS
The simplest way to narrow down the choices as to just what kind of goodies a search has turned up is to slant it toward what the characters need and can use (this presupposes that something anyone can use, like medical
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ENCOUNTERS AND HAZARDS

The many hazards we have already described in
Aftermath! can be met in as many forms. Our own opinion is

that the hands of men bear more dangers for the Player Characters than the claws of beasties, but admittedly, a raging tiger or bear is not exactly a kitten. The environment itself, especially in the cities, is inimical to life: the crumbling buildings offer as many traps as they do resources to preserve life, the very air may bear the invisibledeath of virus or gas, the good earth may radiate the cell-tearing poison of nuclear contamination. If they are to live to bear the promise of renewal to future generations, the characters must overcome all these. The dangers of the Aftermath may be met in several ways:
Random Encounter: As they travel overland (Strategic Time Scale) there is a chance that the characters will run into some group, individual, orevent. Theencounter need not be hostile. There may be opportunities for mutual aid. trading, or simply companionship, rather than combat. Local Condition: The Gamesmaster has designated some
local condition as existing on the map in the area entered by the characters. This can be a Community, a contaminated area, a local gang or tribe, etc.
Prepared Adventure: Actually, it need not be all that

prepared. The Gamesmaster has placed a scenario on the map at that point. This may be the headquarters of some major Non-Player Character into which the characters have blundered, it may be the scenario specially designed for that nights playing session, which the Gamesmaster has simply decided to put in their path to get things started, or it may bean improvised encounter of some degree of complexity, created on the spot. This latter type of adventure can be very rewarding. In one playtest campaign, the characters took shelter from a contaminated rainstorm in an old motel. While waiting for the rain to stop, it was determined that they had had a random encounter. The tables for this showed that they had met a pack of feral dogs, led by an intelligent mutant dog. Unable to resist the possibilities, the Gamesmaster created the motel on the spot, laying out a crude floorplan and designating the building as the headquarters of a pack of organized canines, who kept several human pets. These pets allowed the dogs to have such defenses as tear gas canisters hooked up to the old sprinkler system in the motels ceiling, and smaller dogs who were forced to carry radio-detonated satchel charges strapped to their backs, as suicide troops. In a final burst of madness, the leader animal was made telepathic, so that his sardonic comments could be broadcast to the characters. What had started as a minor, random encounter was turned into a major adventure with the application of five minutes of imaginative thinking.
disadvantage of encounter tables it that they can become static. The same combinations of events keep occurring. Creative interpretation can offset this to a degree, but there will be times when the fourth straight appearance of giant roaches is enough to make Players and Gamesmaster alike scream in agony. The encounter deck is another tried-and-true system. The Gamesmaster prepares a number of index cards in advance, each one listing the details of a mini-scenario, or at least the numbers and vital statistics of an encountered group of characters, or a solo encounter. When an encounter is needed, the Gamesmaster draws a card at random. The advantages are diversity, since each encounter card can be as unique as desired, and standard cards listing simple, clear-cut scenarios can be shuffled back into the pack after use. Since the card can also indicate that a large scenario has been encountered (Pull out file on The Ghouls of K Street), thedeck has the added advantage of allowing more elaborate encounters to be plotted than can easily be generated on a table. The single biggest disadvantage to encounter decks is that they are never completed. They require a fairly continual amount of work to keep fresh. This may not appear as a disadvantage to many Gamesmasters, who prefer to update their campaigns constantly in order to maintain freshness. A fairly short sample Encounter Table follows, both to provide a model for the Gamesmaster to use in constructing his own, and to give him something to use until that job is done.
SAMPLE ENCOUNTER TABLES

For every day of Strategic Scale Travel, or of encampment in the open during the night or day, roll 1D20. A score of 1-3 indicates that an Encounter has occurred.
CLASS OF ENCOUNTER (Roll 1D20)

1-8 9-15 16-18 19 20 Men Beasts Event Contamination Phenomenon
MEN ENCOUNTERS (Roll 1D100)

01-30 31-40 41-50 51-55 56-70 Group-Small (2D3 men) Group-Medium (3D6+10men) Group-Large (3020 + 20 men)
Solo Traveler
Duo Team (2 members). Roll 1D6. 1-3 2 humans 4-5 6 Human and Tame Animal(s) Human and Mutant Anirnal(s)
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
There are several traditional gaming techniques for determining when characters will have a random encounter, and just what that encounter is. The usual one is a table, keyed to various die rolls, to generate a particular encounter situation. It has the advantage of availability: it is there when you need it. The considerable effort in constructing it has been done, and all that is needed to generate an encounter is the time to roll the dice. The 71-80 81-85 86-90 91-00
Personality Non-Player Character Maniac Disease-carrying Maniac Special
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ORIGINS/INTENTIONS OF GROUPS (Roll 1020)

1-3 Wild Group: Nomadic and semi-primitive. Often composed largely of kids who grew up without any adult care. Tribal Group: Members of primitive Tribe, a lowtechnology form of Community. Community: Members of one of the established Communities in the campaign. If they are far from their territory, they will have some form of transport.
GROUP ORGANIZATION (Roll 1D100)

01-10 All Extras (DRT of 1) 11-25 All Rabble (DRT of 10 or 1D10) 26-30 Extras with Rabble Leaders 31-60 All Average Men 61-70 All Rabble with Average Leaders 71-90 All Average with Superior Leaders 91-00 As 71-90 above with a Heroic Overall Leader Leaders occur in a ratio of 1 Leader per 10 other characters.
4-6 7-9
10-12 Street People: Groups of semi-crazed scavengers who form mobs for self-preservation. 13-14 Ghouls: Cannibal groups. 15-16 Monos: Groups with some fixation: pre-Ruin politics, religion, culture (Samurai, Western, Medieval, etc.). There are Mono Communities. 17-20 Bandits: Those who prey on others.
BEAST ENCOUNTERS (Roll 10100)

01-03 Lion 04-08 2D3 Lions 09-11 Tiger 12 D3 Tigers 13-14 Gator: On land, 1. Near Water, D3 15-18 Gator: On land, D3. Near Water, 3D3 19-30 Small Game (see page 26) 31-35 Black Bear. 30% chance of (extremely dangerous) Mother with Cub
NOTES ON MEN ENCOUNTERS

The encounters with people are the biggest potential headache for the Gamesmaster, since such figures can be every bit as diverse in Skills and equipment as the Player Characters themselves. It will be very useful to have pre-fabricated samples of group encounters, solos, and so on, made up beforehand. Then, i f an encounter with such characters is indicated, just whip out the paperwork and you are all set. The encounter with a Personality Non-Player Character can be as significant as the Gamesmaster wishes it to be. It allows him to slip an equalizer into weak parties heading into dangerous scenarios (equalizers are non-player characters with more ability than the Player Characters, used by the Gamesmaster to even the odds in their favor when they are in over their heads). He can be a famous figure in the local folklore (or an infamous one, according to your tastes), or he may just be a fairly well-fleshed-out character, there to provide some color for the campaign He may at least know where the characters can find a safe place for the night He can also be used to lead the Player Characters to the scenario for the playing session Maniacs and Diseased Maniacs are mostly filler on the list One is a harmless madman The other carries some disgusting and communicable infection There are many possible variations on this theme A Special is just that. some unique human (or semihuman) encounter that fits in your campaign I n playtest, this has included run-ins with human Quislings working for alien invaders, ninjas in the employ of the insidious Doctor Fu-Manchu (who has come through the Ruin quite well and is currently holed up in a secret base somewhere in the Rocky Mountains), and a real vampire Do not overlook the potentials of releasing the manlike monsters of fantasy upon the defenseless world of the Aftermath Several short stories in the genre have done so with great success. as have a number of comic books When dealing with large groups of humans, it is convenient to assume that the bulk of the crowd is made up of Extras, Rabble, or Average Men, with a number of leader types of the next-highest type A usable table for the chances of such a mix i s given here
36-38 Grizzly Bear. Same chance as above 39-40 Kodiak or Polar Bear. Same chance as above 41-55 Dogs. A pack of 3D3 (60% chance) or a large pack of 4D6. Roll 1D10 for Size of each dog, or group of dogs. Score of 1-7 indicatesequivalent Size grouping. Score of 8-10 means Attack Dog. Roll D3+4forSizeof Attack Dogs. 20% chance per animal of being Rabid 56-60 Wolves. Pack of 4D6 animals 61-62 Giant constrictors. 2D3 appearing 63-64 Rattlesnakes 60% chance of 1, in path of some member of group, as a Hidden Thing If not seen it is stepped on and will attack Otherwise, a nest of 1DlOO snakes is found, but dangerous only if disturbed 65 66 67 68 Pack of Feral Cats (3D3) Pack of Rabid Feral Cats Rhinoceros Rhinoceros, 1D3
69 Elephant 70-72 Razorbacks 73-88 Game (see page 26) 89-00 Rats
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RAT ENCOUNTERS (Roll D20)

1-6 7-11 12 2D6 Mobs of Rats 2D10 Mobs of Super Rats 2010 Super Giant Rats
86-95 Locate the residence of some individual or small group. Treat as a Men encounter 96-00 Gamesmasters choice.
13-16 2D6 Ruin Rats. Armed with long spikes (WDM of 1.5). There is a 60% chance that these weapons are coated with some low-grade form of poison. In any case, they will be filthy and expose those hit to infection 17-18 Super Mob. Roll on this table with 1DlO. That type of Rat is encountered, but the number of Mobs rolled is doubled Master Rat. Roll 1D6 for circumstances 1-2 Solo Master Rat. Armed with Random Pistol. 20% chance of having his lair nearby, with a chance of technological loot i n it 3
CONTAMINATION ENCOUNTERS
This is hard to quantify. The type of contamination in question depends on the campaign. Radioactivity is not likely if no atomic weapons were used in the Ruin. It boils down to this: what kind of contamination is encountered (atomic, biological, or chemical), is it passive (only endangers characters if they walk into it) or active (it comes to them, like plague carried by a victim)? If the characters have detectors, they should be able to avoid the encounter. As Such encounters can be extremely deadly and very hard to game fairly outside of DAT display, you may not wish to include them in your Encounter Table as such.
t9-20
Solo Master Rat as above, but also controlling 2D6 Mobs of normal Rats. There is a 30% chance that these will be Super Rats instead
PHENOMENON ENCOUNTERS
Another tricky one. In general, it means a significant environmental change or condition. But the exact type depends on your campaigns climate and the nature of the Ruin. Are earthquakes common in the campaign? Then they should appear on this table. Lightening Bolts? Then let random strikes with a given BCS attack thecharacters. doing 1D6 Charges of electrical damage. Is the rain likely to carry contamination? If so, then what kind? When you have a clear picture of these factors, you can build your table. Examples of Phenomenon Hazards are:
As above, but controlling 1D10 Super Giant Rats

instead
5-6 Mated pair of Master Rats, armed as 1-2 above. 40% chance of their lair being nearby. Gamesmasters who wish to try something interesting with Master Rats are invited to create Genius Rats, Master Rats with even greater levels of intelligence than their fellows. Such mutants might well havedefinite plansabout the fate of mankind. In playtest, at least one such creature existed, holed up in an abandoned museum. She had enslaved a number of technicians (humans, that is) who were forced to develop intricate defenses for her. Adding some telepathic capability to allow the Rat to communicate with humans can also be interesting. They should not be overlooked in the quest for unique non-player characters.
Earthquake: Small or large tremors. I f in theopen, theonly

real danger is from falls. A Strength CST prevents this. Tremors are assigned a Force (score rolled on 1D6 x 5). If inside a building with Structural Stability less than this number, all are exposed to Structural Hazards (see page 19). If the campaign is in a heavy quake area (West Coast, Hawaii, etc.) the Force die roll can be increased.
Contaminated Rain: If the water is radioactive, assign the
EVENT ENCOUNTERS (Roll 10100)

01-10 An opportunity for Search Skill is found. If BCS made, a find is generated as if the characters had been Foraging (see Foraging, page 11) 11-15 Characters hear a firefight break out several blocks away 16-25 Characters see a combat occurring some blocks away 26-35 Characters come across a source of campaign background: political information, location of some scenario, information about a major Non-Player Character, etc. 36-50 Characters observe some open-ended situation: Ghouls getting ready to butcher their victims, attempted rape, lynch mob getting the rope ready, woman going into labor, someone in imminent danger, etc. Can escalate into a mini-scenario 51-55 Aircraft of some kind flies overhead 56-65 A vehicle of some kind drives by at high speed 66-70 A Sniper opens fire at 200-meter range with a rifle. He will fire until spotted and then run away (probably escaping) 71-75 Characters wander into a minefield. Gamesmaster should distribute 2D6 mines on the map around the characters, at random or in a pattern of his choice. Use DAT display for this situation 76-80 Characters see a UFO 81-85 Phone in nearby booth or building rings
rainfall a REM per Hour figure, just as you do for other sources of nuclear contamination. If it contains a biological or chamical contaminant, assign it a rate factor. This represents the concentrations of contaminant in the water. Rate factors should be on the order of Virulence Groups per Hour. Since the contaminating agent has an inherent Virulence, when the characters have been exposed to the rain for a sufficient period of time for it to generate that Group they must save against exposure to the contaminant. Thus, a storm carrying a Group 2 biological agent (a disease) starts, with a rate factor of 1 per hour. For every two hours of exposure, thecharacters will have t o save against catching that disease. Acid rains will have a maximum level, and will attack the characters as Acid does for every hour of exposure, at that level. These are mostly encountered in campaigns where civilization polluted itself into the Ruin. Y o u r E n c o u n t e r T a b l e s h o u l d a l s o have uncontaminated storms in it, to keep Players guessing.
Windstorms: Very high winds are assigned a value once

they exceed 30 knots (about 50 kph). For every 20 kPh above 50, they will add 1 to the effective Encumbrance Status of characters forced to move through them. They also wipe out sounds beyond a range of about 2 meters, if that much. Tornadoes and other such high-powered wind storms will apply a Blast effect to characters in their area of influence (a touchdown within 50 meters). This should be about 2020 + 10 of Blast. They will affect buildings as Earthquakes do. A hurricane or direct hit bya tornado W i l l have a Force in this regard of about 1D10x.5.
Flash Floods: These expose the characters to a situation where they must swim for their lives, to the nearest point
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of safety the Gamesmaster designates (say 1 D50 meters to reach some kind of safety). The flood is given a score of 1D3, or 1D6 if it is a nasty one, which is subtracted from tlie swimming BCS. These are the principal forms of dangerous natural phenomena to be encountered in Aftermath! Since the most that characters can do when confronted by such attacks is to try to survive, it is not advisable to use them too liberally.
Gamesmaster should roll this percentage before applying the damage to the character, as the Special Effects may alter the effects of the Hazard.
HAZARD SPECIAL EFFECTS (Roll 1D100)

01-10 Narrow escape! Take only 1 point of Subdual Damage 11-30 No special effects either way 31-50 Disabling Damage to random Location. Unable to use affected part of body until Health AST made (check every hour). Disable to Head or Torso means unconsciousness 51-70 Conked on the head! Out cold until Health AST made (check hourly) 71-85 Buried! Task Points equal to damage potential required to dig victim out. Strength AST needed to dig, with a Task Period of 1 Combat Turn. Victim may dig himself out, but uses Strength CST and is minus 1 effective Strength Group 86-90 Buried!! As above, but victim is subjected to Constriction attack by the debris each Combat Turn he is in there. Applied vs. Torso at a base value equal to Hazards Group as Strength Group 91-95 Fall! Take a Fall result from an effective height equal to Hazards Group in meters 96-00 As Fall, but effective height is equal to Hazard Group Effect Die roll When applying this system in Strategic, Tactical, or the variable scale used for Foraging, roll 1D10 to determine the least-safe Structural Stability to be encountered in that turn, for purposes of calculating the Hazard. If you do not wish to make such events very common (a good idea in many campaigns-theyre hazardous enough), use 2D10 to determine random Stability, thus eliminating frequent occurrences of unsafe structures. In Detailed Action Time Scale (DAT), since the action is mapped out, and individual buildings are dealt with rather than whole blocks at a time, assign each building involved a Structural Stability. If structural Hazards are not in tune with the scenario being played, assumea valueof 10. Then simply indicate dangerous locations (flights of stairs, fire escapes, rotted floor areas, crumbling walls or ceilings) on your map of the building. If you want some variety, you can vary the Structural Stability of the building. Say it has an overall score of 9, making long treks through it pretty safe. But the doorway (the locked one) has a Stability of 4 , if it is forced open, while that landing has a score of 6, not to mention the hole in the wall over there, lurking with a score of 1, waiting for some idiot to try crawling through it. Hazard encounters in DAT are aimed only at the character(s) who trigger them, not the whole party, unless they are all in on the decisive action. In calling Hazard situations in larger scales, it will add immeasurably to play i f some plausible event is used to describe the misfortune, rather than a dry announcement that so-and-so has just taken so many points of damage. Creative Player reactions to such calls should be rewarded by better odds of escape. Dumb player response should probably be proportionately punished, but we leave this to the Gamesmasters mercy (his what??).
LOCAL CONDITIONS
These will not usually be the kind of thing encountered without pre-planning. As far as the more fixed and generally known Local Conditions in the campaign go, they will be the major Communities and tribal or gang territories, major contaminated areas, and places having reputations as strange or dangerous. This is assuming that the Player Characters are all natives of the area in question. Locals would know where you do not want to go in their territoryjust ask your host the next time you visit New York City (if you already live in New York, you know what I mean). Of course, there are Local Conditions that no one is really sure of. That bandit gang is likely to start staking out new areas once everybody gets the word about their old turf. The contaminated rain might leave a new section of town unhealthy for humans. Such things would receive the Gamesmasters attention from time to time, as he does the housekee pi ng on his c a mpaig n .
STABI LITY
The Structural Stability is a score measuring the physical condition of a given building, buildings, or even neighborhood. It is expressed as a number from 1 to 10, where 1 means that the building is little more than ashell and 10 implies that it is as solid as the day it was built. Some buildings (earthquake-proof or hardened sites) will have a higher score than 10. Exposure to fire, explosives, storms, and the inexorable passage of time all tend to lower the Structural Stability of a building. When the Characters enter a building with a score of less than 10, they are in danger of encountering a Building Hazard. In larger time scales than Detailed Action Time, each turn (of whatever length) spent moving in a building with a lessthan-perfect Structural Stability requires a check for Hazards. Roll lD10: if the die roll is greater than the Structural Stability of the building, a Hazard has been encountered. This will expose the members of the party who fail to make a Search, Urban BCS roll, minusa penaltyequal to lodivided by the Structural Stability, nearest, to an attack by the Hazard. The BCS for the Hazard is equal to 18 minus the Structural Stability score. Characters can defend against this only with their CDA, reducing the BCS by that amount. If they make a Speed AST, they will double their CDA. A CST will triple it. A Critical Hit will avoid the Hazards attack entirely. If the Hazard hits a character, he is exposed to a damage potential in Crush type damage equal to the Effect Die roll for a Group determined by subtracting the Structural Stability from 10, multiplied by a random WDM equivalent. This is determined bv rolling 1D6 and multiplying that score times .5. This attacks the victims Average Armor Value. A building with Structural Stabilityof 3 will havea Groupof 7, for an Effect Die of 2D10 + 2, and rolling the D6, the Gamesmaster gets a 5, for a WDM of 2.5. This is the kind of damage potential that a Hazard in that building would levy against a character. The damage potential of a given Hazards attack on a character is also the percentage chance of Hazard Special Effects, some quirk of the situation that may redound to his good or ill. After generating the damage potential, the
RANDOM COVER
Another element of creating the environment that Player Characters may evince a keen interest in from timeto time, is the availability of some form of cover from missile fire. As they wander a wilderness peopled by trigger-happy neighbors, the ability to get ones person out of harms way in a hurry may be of critical importance.
19
The chances of locating cover i n a given type of terrain are given on the table below. Simply roll 1D20, cross-reference the score rolled with the typeof terrain in which thecharacter finds himself, and the resulting cover situation is available within 2D3 meters of the character. If the roll indicates "No Cover," a Search BCS of the appropriate type may be roiled for, If it is made, then a second try for locating cover may be made. The cover, if any is found, will be 2D10 + 5 meters away. If "No Cover" is again the result, there is no chance of any more beina found until the Character has moved at least 25 meters f r o k his present position.
RANDOM COVER TABLE

Rubble City
1 2-3 4-6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-20
Suburbs
1-2 3-5 6-9 10-13 14-16 17-18 19-20
Open
1-4 5-8 9-10 11 12-17 18-19 20
Forest
1-3 4-7 8-1 1 12-15 16-17 18-19 20
Swamp
1-3 4-8 9-13 14-16 17-18 19 20 1-5 6-9 10-11 12 13-18 19 20
No Cover
Visual Cover 1 Visual Cover 2 Prone Cover 1 m. Cover Chest Cover Full Cover
1-3 4-5 6-7 8-12 13-15 16-18 19-20
Visual Cover 1 and 2 are described under Target Cover i n the Firearms Rules (Book 2, p. 34). Prone Cover will afford cover to a prone character. He may fire over this as described in the Firearms Rules (Firing from Cover; (Book 2, p. 33). 1 m. Cover is some form of Cover extending about 1 meter high. Chest Cover will cover a standing man from Location 6 down. He may fire over it from a standing position, crouch behind it to be completely covered, or kneel to fire around the corner of it. Full Cover will cover a standing man completely. He may fire around the corner from behind it. It may be a wall or building, a thick tree, etc. Unless the Gamesmaster decrees otherwise, solid cover is assumed to be some material not penetrable by bullets. He may choose to make it of some logical material based on terrain (stone, brick, construction plastics in urban areas; wood, stone, or old brick in more rural ones). This rule is designed for use in Strategic or Tactical Scale situations where the Gamesmaster does not have a detailed map of the area. In Deatiled Action Scale, cover or its lack will be based on what the map shows.
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BEASTS
The clash between man and beast is a classic situation of fantasy adventure. Many tales of Post-Ruin worlds postulate the release of animals in zoos and their subsequent readaptation to the wild and proliferation in the city owning the zoo. This allows a Gamesmaster to present the adventuring characters with encounters involving beasts not native to the country in which the campaign is set. Many Post-Ruin scenarios also posit the return of native animal species to former numbers and habitats. In a world of reduced resources, encountered animals may also prove to be a valuable food resource for characters short on rations. The preceding, of course, assumes that the animals do not first make the characters into rations to feed the wife and cubs. Beasts are presented in two categories, the hostile (carnivores, omnivores, and scavengers which might attack a man as a food source) and the non-hostile (herbivores which would rather flee or hide than fight). Most animals operate according to programmed response patterns. A deer, for example, will run when threatened unless it is cornered, or believes itself cornered. The Gamesmaster is provided with some guidelines for the responses of the animals detailed later in this section. Animals are, however, notorious for doing the unexpected. This should be kept in mind by the Gamesmaster to be used when Players let their characters get too confident. Each detailed animal is presented with a set of statistics similar to those used for humans. These are a collection of abilities, characteristics, and skills. In many cases, the derivation of an animals Ability is not the same as for a human. If an animal is required to make a Saving Throw for zome reason, the number to be used can bedetermined from the statistics given. I f a Deftness or Speed Saving Throw is required use the beasts Base Action Phase times 2 as its Attribute for the Throw. Treat its Mass as its Strength for Saving Throws involving that Attribute or for determining an Effect Die, if a matching of Strengths is needed for any reason. For Health Saving Throws,Hostile animals will have a value of one-third their Mass. This is used for both Critical and Ability Saving Throws. Non-hostile animals have a percentage Saving Throw equal to their Shock Factor. Most animals are not particularly intelligent, as we use the term, but are crafty and wary. Their keener senses prevent them, in many cases, from being fooled as easily as a man. Due to the multitude of factors involved, no set pattern of Saving Throws involving Wit is given for animals. The Gamesmaster should evaluate his opinion of the animals capabilities and the situation, and decide on a value for a Saving Throw. Such a value would be used in that situation only; remember that a given animal is rarely fooled in the same way twice. Animals are capable of moving at a higher-than-normal speed, or Run, in the same way as humans. Unless specified otherwise, the resolution of Hit Location on an animal will be done using the quadruped table and body map. Similarly a beast will occupy two hexes on the DAT display in the manner of a horse. The letter appearing after an animals BCS is an evaluation of the weapon length for determining Zones of Influence and Effect Die modifications due to range.
HOSTILE ANIMALS
The kinds of hostile beasts are grouped according to the kind of animal (cat, dog, etc.). A general description is given of attack and response patterns. This is followed by a listing of specifics for some beasts in that grouping.
BEARS
Bears are omnivores and do not really hunt prey of a substantial size. They have been known to attack men when wounded, threatened, frightened, protecting young, or denied something they want, such as a picnic lunch. Bears are given two Base Movement Allowances, one for quadrupedal and one for bipedal stance. They will move about quadrupedally, but will tend to attack men in bipedal stance. Use the appropriate Hit Location Table. Bears favor attacking with their paws. Such blows have incredible power behind them and a check fora Bash should be made when a Paw attack is successful. If the bear scores two successful Paw hits on the body of acharacter, there isa 50% chance that the attack will become a hug. Damage for only one of the paws is delivered to the character, but he will be held as if he had received a Pin from a character using Unarmed Combat Skill. The character need not be prone to receive this result. Once the bear has a character in a hug, it will attempt to bite him on each Action. It will also do constriction attacks on each Action. The Mass of the bear is used to determine the Effect Die to generate the constriction results.
Black Bear
BAP: 10 MNA: 2 PCA: 5 BMA/quad.: 1 1/4 bi.: 1 AV: 5 WDA: 2 CDA: 2 DRT: (3D6 + 15) x 2 SF: 20 Bite BCS: 6(S) WDM: l , L Paw BCS: 12(A) WDM: 1.5,B Damage Die: 1D10 Mass: 20
21
Grizzly Bear
BAP: 8 MNA: 1 PCA: 8 BMNquad.: 1 1/2 bi.: 1 AV: 5 WDA: 2 CDA: 1 DRT: (406 + 15) x 2.5 Bite BCS: 6(S) Paw BCS: 14(A) Damage Die: 206 Mass: 40 WDM: l , L WDM: 2.5,B
rolls are compared. If the cats is higher, the victim will fall and is treated as if he had fallen from a height equal to twice the CDA multiplier gained by the speed at which he was traveling. That is, a character Running (CDA modifier is 3) will be treated as falling 2 x 3 or 6 meters. BAP: 16 MNA: 3 PCA: 5 BMA: 2 AV: 3 WDA: 2 CDA: 4 DRT: (1D6 + 10) x 2 SF: 10 Bite BCS: 15(S) Damage Die: 1D6 Mass: 4 WDM: 1.5,L
SF:25
Polar or Kodiak Bear
BAP: 8 MNA: 2 PCA: 4 BMNquad.: 1 1/2 bi.: 1 AV: 5 WDA: 2 CDA: 1 DRT: (4010 + 15) x 2.5 Bite BCS: 6(S) Paw BCS: 14(A) Damage Die: 2D6 Mass: 55 WDM: 1.2,L WDM: 3.5,B
Feral Cat
BAP: 15 MNA: 3 PCA: 5 BMA: 1 Bite BCS: 12(S) Claw BCS: 12(S) Damage Die: 1D2 Mass: 1 WDM: 1.3,L WDM: 1.5,L
AV: 2
WDA: 1 CDA: 4 DRT: 2D10 + 3 SF: 5
SF:35
CATS
Cats are hunters capable of silently stalking their prey. The usual tactic is t o approach quietly, if possible, then to leap upon it to drag it down and kill it. Most cats are solitary hunters though some will hunt in pairs. A cat may pounce. This involves making a Jump Action at the end of which an attack is resolved. The animal can cover a maximum distance equal to its PCA times its BMA in the leap, if moving, and half that from a standing start. The attack at the end of the leap will consist of a Bash and two Claw attacks. These claw attacks do half the normal damage but serve to let the cat grip its victim. Once gripped, the victim will be encumbered by the cats Mass. The cat will then either bite (60% chance) or claw with the hind feet in an attempt to disembowel the prey. The claw attacks receive a -10 to the Hit Location roll. A bite attack has a Hit Location die roll modifier of +lo. If a bite is successful on Locations 1 or 2, the cat and the victim will match Strength Effect Die rolls. If the cats is higher, the victim must make a Health Saving Throw as if he had fallen. A die roll of 2Owill requirea save as if the character had received aTrauma Critical Effect at that Location. A successful hit by thecat on Location 3 will allow it to attack as if it were a character achieving a Choke with Unarmed Combat Skill. Cats killing for food will make a single kill. Some will then remove the victim from the site preparatory to eating. Like most animals, cats will fight to the death in defense of young. Unlike many animals, some cats will hunt even when a food supply is available.
Puma or Leopard
BAP: 14 MNA: 2 PCA: 7 BMA: 2 AV: 3 WDA: 2 CDA: 3 DRT: (1 D6+10)x2.5 Bite BCS: 16(S) Claw BCS: 14(A) Damage Die: 1D6 Mass: 10 WDM: 1.5,L WDM: 1.7,L
SF:15
Lion
Lions operate in prides of 2D3 which cooperate in hunting. BAP: 12 MNA: 2 PCA: 6 Bite BCS: 17(S) Claw BCS: 15(A) Damage Die: 1D6+2 WDM: 1.5,L WDM: 1.8,L
BMA: 1 1/2 Mass: 18 AV: 3 except for males: Locations 3-7 have AV 4 WDA: 2 CDA: 3 DRT: (2D6 + 15) x 2.5
Cheetah
The cheetahs attack methods follow those of dogs more than those of cats. For one Combat Turn while at a Run, a cheetah may increase his BMA to 8.After this Combat Turn, the cheetah must decelerate to a stop. It may not use this burst of speed again for one-half hour. This burst will damage the animal by 1 point of subdual damage for each Action Phase on which it was moving at the special BMA. If the cheetah achieves a successful bite attack while pursuing (it may make this attack while moving), Strength Effect Die
22
Tigers
BAP: 11 MNA: 2 PCA: 5 BMA: 1 1/2 AV: 3 WDA: 2 CDA: 3 DRT: (4D5 + 10) x 2.5 SF: 20 Bite BCS: 18(S) Claw BCS: 16(A) Mass: 18 WDM: 1.5,L WDM: 2,L
Attack-trained dogs have their BCS increased by 2 and their Damage Die increased by one step. The step after 1D6 is 1D10.
Damage Die: l D l O + 1
Wolf
Bap: 15 MNA: 2 PCA: 7 BMA: 2 112 AV: 3 WDA: 2 CDA: 3 DRT: 4D10 + 20 Bite BCS: 15(S) Damage Die: 2D3 Mass: 4 WDM: 1.7
DOGS
Dogs are primarily chasers. They tend t o hunt in cooperative packs. The most powerful dog is usually the leader of the pack. Some members of a pack will attack the victim in an attempt to get a grip. If the bite BCS die roll is under 50% of thescore neededfora hit (12 neededand6orless rolled), the dog will have gotten a grip and his Mass will encumber the victim. Other members of the pack will attempt to kill the encumbered victim. Onceadog hasagriponavictim, itdoes not need to roll for an attack. It will do its damage to a victim in each Action. Armor will make all damage received up to its Armor Value act as subdual damage. All damage beyond that is lethal. If the victim is standing or moving, the dogs will attempt to bring him down. This is checked for on the bookkeeping Phase. This is accomplished by matching the Effect Die rolls for the combined Strengths of all the dogs which have a grip and for the victim's Strength. If the dogs' is higher, the victim will be brought down. The victim will be treated as if he had fallen from a height equal to the CDA multiplier gained for the speed at which he was moving. Dogs achieving Hit Locations of 1-3 are treated as cats who achieve the same Locations when they make a successful bite.
SF: 15
Feral Dogs
Statistics will vary by the size of thedog. A pack may easily be composed of dogs of various sizes. The smaller dogs are often the ones "assigned" the task of encumbering the victim. Dog sizes are given a classification (I, II, Ill, etc.) to identify the size grouping. Dogs only occupy 1 hex on the DAT display. Dogs I and II may have as many as 3 in one hex without restriction and Dogs Ill may have 2 in one space without restriction.
Dog
BAP MNA PCA BMA AV WDA CDA DRT
I (5 kg) 16
2
II (10 kg) 14 2 7 1 1 1 4
2D10 + 3 4 9 1.5 1 point 1
111 (15 kg) 12

2 6 1 1/2 2 1 4 4D6 + 3 6 10 1.5 1D2 1.5
IV (20 kg) 12
2 6 2 2 1 4 306 + 8 8 11 1.5 1D3 2
V (30 kg) 10
2 5 2 3 1 3 2D10 + 10 12 1.2 1.6 1D3 2.5
VI (40 kg) 12
2 6 2 3 1 3 3D10 12 13 1.6 1D6
3
+
VI1 (over 40 kg) 12

2 6 2 3 1
8
1/2 0 1 5 1D6 2 8 1.5 1 point .5
3
15 3D10 + 20 15 14 1.7
SF
Bite BCS (S) WDM: L Damage Die Mass
1D6 4
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REPTILES
Reptiles are for the most part non-aggressive toward man but are included here for their dangerous potential and popular appearances i n fiction.
Alligator
The alligator is generally inoffensive to something thesize of a full-grown human, although its relative the crocodile will attack a man. Alligators will defend their nests and attack threats if they cannot escape from them. An alligator will occupy 3 hexes on the DAT display. A character entering the Tail Zone of the alligator (see illustration) is subject to a free attack from the tail. An alligator may attack targets in his Tail Zone as well as regular targets in one Attack Action without negative modifiers for the two attacks.
TAIL ZONE
Alligator on land
BAP: 8 MNA: 2 PCA: 4 BMA: 1/2 Tail BCS: 10(A) WDM: 1.8,C Damage Die: 1D6 plus Bash attack Mass: 13 Bite BCS: 12(S) WDM: 2,L Damage Die: l D l O
A character may make a Strength AST to attempt to throw off a coil. This allows him to compare Strength Effect Die rolls with the serpent. If the character's roll is higher, thecoil is thrown off. One coil may be thrown off per Action. The snake may attempt to throw additional coils on a victim to the maximum of three. Throwing additional coils does not interfere with its constriction attack of coils that are already lapping the victim. Any attempts to attack a constrictor which is coiled on a character will require the attacker to make a Deftness CST or the attack will be made against the character in the snake's coils. Characters attempting to help who have both hands free need not make the Strength AST in order to match Effect Die rolls with the snake for removing coils. The Effect Die rolls are matched if the helping character simply declares that he is spending the Action attempting to remove a coil, A character in a snake's coils will be encumbered by 1/3 of the serpent's Mass for each coil which it has on the victim. Constrictors, as well as other snakes, are given two BAP numbers. The first is the one used by the snake if it is moving. The second is used when the snake is initiating a striking Attack Action. In the case of a constrictor, it would attempt to bite a victim on Action Phase 16 (resolving on Action Phase 8) and could attempt t o throw coils, ifthe bite was successful, Once on Action Phase 7 (resolving constriction on Phase 0). securely anchored on a victim, the serpent can attempt to coil on each Action, and it will use the BAP for moving to control its actions. For purposes of Hit Location, only a roll of 01 to 05 will hit the head. All other attacks strike the body. Constrictors are 4 + 203 meters long, but only occupy 1 hex when coiled. BAP: 6 (16) MNA: 1 (2) PCA: 6(8) BMA: 1/2 AV: 3 WDA: 2 CDA: 2 DRT: 4D6 + 25 SF: 25 Bite BCS: 14(A) WDM: 1.3,L Damage Die: 2D3 Coil BCS: l 8 ( S ) WDM: 1.5, constriction Damage Die: 1D6 Mass: 15
AV on Locations 17 to 28: 4 7, 10, 13, 16, 29, 30: 5 4: 3 other Locations: 6

WDA: 1 CDA: 1 DRT: (3D6 + 10) x 2.5 SF: 20
Rattlesnake
The rattler is the most common poisonous snake found in North America. It normally attacks only when disturbed. It follows the strike/movement pattern presented with constrictors, except that it does not coil around a victim. It has the same Hit Location pattern as constrictors, with a 1- to 2-meter length. A rattlesnake will have 303 units of its poison when encountered. Each unit is an equivalent of a Strength Rating of 1 for the poison. Additional doses are cumulative. The snake will inject 1D2 units per successful bite. BAP: 6 (18) MNA: 2 PCA: 3 (9) BMA: 1/2 AV: 2 WDA: 2 CDA: 2 DRT: 2D6 Bite BCS: lO(S)' Damage Die: 1D6 Mass: .5 WDM: 1.5,L plus poison
Alligator in water has the following changes

BAP: 10 PCA: 5 CDA: 2
Larger alligators are possible. They would do more damage and have a greater Mass but would not necessarily be slower.
Constrictor
Although they do not really attack prey as large as men, giant constrictors have always been held to do so in adventure fiction. Thus they are included here. Constrictors often wait above their prey in order to drop down upon it. The snake will first attempt to strike the victim and get a grip on him with its mouth. This works as for dogs except that once the grip is gained no more damage is done. Once a grip is gotten, the snake will loop 1D3 coils around its victim. These coils will do constriction damage at 1D6 per coil per Action. Coils are thrown at the start of a snake's Action once the serpent has a grip.
SF: 10
* A character's WDA is not applicable against this attack.
Damage Done is only calculated for purposes of determining
24
whether the armor is penetrated for the poison to be injected. If it is, the character will take 1 point of lethal damage. Rattlesnake poison: S-L-DFT.SPD-2D3 injected- 1 hr.-Nausea hours-per unit
Super- Rat
BAP: 17 MNA: 2 PCA: 8 BMA: 1/4 AV: 1 WDA: 1 CDA: 6 DRT: 2 SF: Bite BCS: 12(VS) WDM: 1.5,L Damage Die: 1D3 Rats per Mob: 6 BCSfRat: 3 WDM: .3/Rat Damage Die: 103+2 Mass: .3
RODENTS
Rodents, although small, are dangerous in large numbers. They may also carry disease and therefore pose a serious hazard. More than one rodent may occupy a DAT display hex without Restricting the other rodents in the hex. The exact number is specified in the rodent description. Rodents are not affected by most kinus of Treacherous Ground. Rodents are capable of mass attacks. This form of attack is called Mobbing. The number of rodents required to initiatea Mob attack will vary according to the type of rodent. A Mob has a BCS of 20. Each rodent in the Mob that is killed will reduce that BCS by the BCS/Rodent factor. The full Overall Defense Ability may be applied against a Mob attack. The damage inflicted bya Mobattack will beapplied tothe lowest AV the character has. A Mob must be in the same hex as the victim in order to attack. If the victim moves, the Mob will stay with him. Mobs can be restored to full strength by the arrival of more of that type of rodent. An attack made against a Mob by the Mobbed character is subject to a number of non-ignorable Distractions equal to one-half the number of surviving rodents, rounded up. A successful attack will apply the damage done to all the rodents in the mob to a maximum of the characters MNA. Thus, a character successfully attacking a Mob of rodents with 2 points of DRT each and doing 7 points of damage would slay three of the vermin if his MNA was 3, but only two if his MNA was 2. If the rodents had 8 points each, he would not even have slain the first one, With regard to Overall Defense Ability, a Mob has the Defense Ability of a single rodent of that type. A character attempting to help a Mobbed character faces the same problems in attacking as when attempting to aid a character in the coils of a constrictor. Individual rodents may be pulled off with a Deftness CST and thrown away. A strength AST will stun the vermin thrown and a CST will kill it. One attempt may be made per Action although i f both hands are free, the helping character may grasp for two rodents with the number required for each grasp reduced by 1.
SHARKS
Sharks are killing machines of an unpredictable nature. A shark may make one attack per Action but it may make it at any point in the Action. Sharks are always moving and the minimum move per Action Phase is the BMA. Sharks usually move a high speed during an attack run, but at low speed at all other times. Hit Location on a shark uses a special table:
HIT LOCATION TABLE FOR SHARKS Die Roll Location

01-30 31-65 66-70 71-74 75-78 79-00 Head (1) Body (2) Right Fin (3) Left Fin (4) Dorsal Fin ( 5 ) Tail (6)
Rats
BAP: 15 MNA: 2 PCA: 7 BMA: 1/4 AV: 1 WDA: 0 CDA: 6 DRT: 1 Acharactermayawait asharksattack inordertostrikeit in an attempt to abort the attack. A Strength AST allows a percentage chance of aborting the sharks attack which is dependent on the sharks size. A Strength CST doubles this chance. A specially-designed anti-shark weapon known as a bang stick has a chance of killing a shark almost instantly. The weapon is a pole which has a 00 shotgun shell at the end. When struck on the shark at Location 2 it will explode. The BDG is the percent chance that the shark will be killed. This is reduced by the sharks size classification. A Deftness CST is required to land the attack successfully. If the die roll was in the characters Ability Saving Throw range, thecharge will go off but it will do only the normal damage to the shark. Bite BCS: lO(VS) WDM: 1.5,L Damage Die: 1D2 Rats per Mob: 10 BCS/Rat: 2 WDM: .2/Rat Mass: .25 Damage Die: 1D3+1
SF: -
25
Sharks are notoriously hard t o kill. A shark will continue to operate for 2D6 Actions after its DRT has been exceeded by damage done. The sharks size classification is its chance in 20 of a Critical Hit. This is rolled for separately on each successful hit. A die roll of 1 on the attack roll indicates a Critical Hit as usual and this roll need not be made. The sharks size classification is also the chance in twenty that it will shake its victim, doing an additional 1D3 of lethal damage per size classification. Sharks are capable of going into frenzy. When circumstances apply, a die roll greater than the sharks size classification on 1D10 will cause a shark to go into frenzy. Circumstances that may trigger frenzy are excessive amounts of blood in the water or large numbers of feeding sharks in the area. Once a shark is in frenzy, its BAP has 203 added to it, its MNA is doubled, its CDA is halved, and it is allowed to make a second attack if the first misses. This second attack has one-half the.BCS of the first attack. Sharks tend to fixate on a victim. They will often push past obstructions and people in their way in order to strike again at a victim that they have already attacked.
Shark
BAP MNA PCA BMA AV WDA: CDA DRT SF Bite BCS WDM Damage Die Mass Attack abandonment percentage 2,L none
I ( 1 m)
14 3 4 4
II (2 m)
13 2 6 3 4
111 (4 m)
12 2
IV (6 m) 11
1 11 4
VI (over 8 m)
10
1
6
3
10 4 6 2 (3D10+1O)x2.5 40 18 2D10 72 20% 2 (4D10+15)x3
4
9 2D5 x 2 10 12 1D3+3 1 70O/o
5
3 (2D10+10) x2.5 40 16 2 D6 24 35%
7
(2D5+5)x2 20 12 1D6+1 2 60%
5
(2D 10+5)x2 30 16 lDlO+l 8
50
18 3D10 72 + 10%
50%
NON-HOSTILE ANIMALS
For the most part, non-hostile animals will appear in the course of play simply as Game, a food source. To this end, whenever t h e c h a r a c t e r s e n c o u n t e r Game, t h e Gamesmaster should consult the table below. It will require the expenditure of a round of ammunition and a successful BCS roll to acquireeach animal. Reusableammunition, such as arrows, may be recovered if the BCS roll is successful. The BCS will receive a negative modifier of 206 for the first shot and an additional -2 for each shot thereafter until all the game has been shot or missed. Only one attempt is allowed per animal.
GAME TABLE
Die roll
01-1 5 16-55 56-69 70-79 80-93 94-95 96-99
Classification
Small Game 2D6 Small Game Medium Game 2D3 Medium Game Large Game 1D3 Large Game Very Large Game 1D3 Very Large Game
Mass
1D3x.5 1D3x1.5 2D6x2.5 2D6x5
Hide Available In Locations (Armor Material)

103 (LH) 2D3 (LH) 1D3 (LH); 2D6 (HH) 1D6 (LH); 2D10 (HH)
00
26
Some specifics are given for some interesting but normally non-hostile animals.
MUTANT ANIMALS
The mutagen-rich world of Affermafh! will undoubtedly produce changes in the fauna of earth. Most mutations will be harmfvl but some will be beneficial and someof these will become established in the gene pools of species. Such processes are lengthy in terms of generations. New species arising from mutations due to the Ruin will first be seen in animals with a short generation period. The effects of such mutations can be widely varied. A Gamesmaster who wishes to include mutant animals in his campaign should design a mutation that suits him. Peshould keep in mind that fantastic powers will not appear overnight. Such things take time to prove their worth and increasetheir strength. Some examples of possible paths of mutation are provided in this section. The Gamesmaster should guide himself with realistic parameters, but should also not allow himself to be trapped by them if he feels that an improbable mutation will make the game more exciting.
Razorback
This is a pig which has reverted back toward the wild boar of its ancestry. Such animals are well-known for the tendency to hunt a hunter who has wounded them. When engaged in such activity, they show considerable cunning. These can be very dangerous game. BAP: 12 MNA: 3 PCA: 4 BMA: 1 AV: 3 WDA: 3 CDA: 3 DRT: (2D10+10)x1.5 SF: 15 Tusk BCS: 14(S) WDM: 2,L plus Bash Damage Die: 1D10 Mass: 15
Rodents
Rodents are notorious for their short generation periods. Suggested here are some variations o n rats which could plague the survivors of a Ruin.
Rhinoceros
A large brute which will charge anything it thinks is worth charging; that is to say, anything. Poor eyesight is part of the reason behind this behavior. The rhino's hearing and sense of smell are reasonably good, as is its ability to detect motion. A rhinoceros will move through a character's hex and subject him totrampling possibilitiesas a horsedoes but the damage done will be different. This will occur if the strike with the horn does not succeed. If the horn strike succeeds, a character will be thrown 2D3 meters from the rhino. He will, of course, be subject to falling results as if he had fallen the distance he was thrown. A thrown character will not be trampled at that point although the animal may return to trample him.
Giant Rats
These monsters resemble regular rats in most particulars, although they arevery large. They occupy asingle hex on the DAT display. Weighing in at about 10 kilograms, they are the size of a small dog. Super Giant Rats are further along in the evolutionary process and are even larger. They mass about 20 kilograms. They do not use Mob attacks.
Giant Rat
BAP: 12 MNA: 2 PCA: 6 BMA: .33 AV: 2 WDA: 1 CDA: 5 DRT: 2D3x2
SF: 5
BAP:
MNA: 1 PCA: a BMA: 2 AV: 5 WDA: 0 CDA: 2
Horn BCS: 12(A) WDM: 1.5,L (thrust) Damage Die: 2D6 Trampling damage: 3D10,B i f trampled Mass: 100
Bite BCS: 14(VS) WDM: 1.5,L Damage Die: 2D3 + 1 Rats per Mob: 3 BCS/Rat: 6 WDM/Rat: .6 Damage Die: 2D3 Mass: 1
DRT: (1D20 + 40) x 3
SF: 35
Elephant
An elephant's principal form of attack will be either by trampling a character or by grabbing him with the trunk and flinging him through the air. Flung characters will travel 206 meters. Elephants occupy several hexes on the DAT display as shown in the illustration. BAP: 10 MNA: 1 PCA: 10 BMA: 1 AV: 4 WDA: 1 CDA: 1 DRT: (2D10 + 60)
X
Elephant and Rhinoceros on
Trunk BCS: 12 WDM: none Trample damage: 4D10,B Mass: 200
2.5
SF:40
27
Super Glant Rats

BAP: 8 MNA: 1 PCA: 8 BMA: 1 AV: 2 WDA: 2 CDA: 4 DRT: (206 + 5) x 2 Bite Bcs: 13(S) WDM: 1.6,L Damage Die: 203 + 2 Mass: 2
INSECTS
Various insects will undoubtedly be changed by the Ruin. Only one is given attention here, the redoubtable cockroach.
Giant Cockroaches
These noxious insects are basically scavengers. They cause little damage to an active character but an unconscious character is in serious danger. Five of these monsters can cover 1 Location on a character. If the character is unresisting, thosefive will cause him 1 point of lethal damage per Combat Turn regardless of armor. If the character is in completely environmentallysealed armor, they will begin to chew through the gaskets at the joints at the rate of 1 point of AV per hour. These vermin only attack in Mobs of five. BAP: 20 MNA: 5 PCA: 4 BMA: .5 AV: 0 WDA: none CDA: 6 DRT: SF: A character making a successful attack against these may eliminate 1 Location worth for each point of MNA he has. Brawling Combat, Unarmed Combat Skills areappropriate, as is a Deftness Ability Saving Throw. The character may use whichever will give him the best chance. Bite BCS: lO(VS) WDM: l , L Damage Die: 1D3/Mob of 5 Mass: .1
SF: 12 Ruin Rats

These monstrosities followed a different path from the giant rats. They are beginning t o develop intelligence. Their manipulative abilities are still poor, although they can use simple tools. I n times of stress, they tend to revert to animal instincts and lose the benefits of their semi-intelligent status.
Ruin Rat
BAP: 12 MNA: 2 PCA: 6 BMA: .33 AV: 2 WDA: 3 CDA: 4 DRT: (10 3 + 5) x 1.5 Bite BCS: 12(VS) WDM: 1.5.L Damage Die: 1 0 3 + 1 Hand-use BCS: 9 WDM: variable Damage Die: 1D5 Mass: 2
SF: 5
APES
A successful series of tales deals with a Post-Holocaust world in which much of what remains is held by apes which have reached human levels of intelligence. If a Gamesmaster wishes to set his campaign in such a world, we provide the following guidelines. A campaign set in such a world could deal with any oneof a number of periods, which will involve humans in various stages of evolutionary or devolutionary progress. An advanced-period campaign will have bands of wild humans who are at best semi-intelligent and who have lost the power of coherent speech, as well as small groups of mutated humans hiding in the ruins of devastated cities. Such mutants are heavily into the path of psychic mutation and almost all have severe cosmetic disorders.
Master Rats
These take the Ruin Rats a step further. Though incapable of human speech, they are of near-human intelligence. They have difficulty dealing with non-concrete ideas and concepts, but can easily use mans devices. Their forepaws are developed to such a degree that they can even use handguns, although their body structure does not allow them to use long guns. Master Rats can move bipedally, though they will drop to all fours for rapid travel. It is possible to allow Master Rats the capability of commanding lesser forms of rats. This makes them formidable opponents, even if they never personally enter the fray. Master Rats would present a danger to the supremacy of man in adepopulated world, for their breeding time isshorter than mans though considerably increased over that of normal rats. Fortunately for man, at this stage they do not cooperate with each other except in the mated pair, as they seem to be extremely territorial. BAP: 10 MNA: 2 PCA: 5 BMA/quad.: 1 bi.: .5 WDA: varies by Skill CDA: 4 DRT: (1D6 + 10) x 1.5 Bite BCS: 9(VS) WDM: 1.5,L Damage Die: 1D3 + 1 Skill Use: variable, almost any physical Skill Strength Damage Die: 1D6
Mass:
SF: 10
AV: 2, some have been known to use scraps of armor which adds to their natural AV.
20
The apes, of course, vary by type. Three species have developed: Gorillas, Chimpanzees, and Orang-utans. Each has his area of expertise and special characteristics. All have learned to walk exclusively in a bipedal fashion. All wear clothes and armor. Apes standardly consider humans as simply animals.
concepts. The ruling council is usually comprised of Orangs and its authority, through smaller specific councils, extends throughout ape society. Orang-utans have a Hindrance and reduction regarding Combat Skills as do Chimpanzees.
The Gorillas
The Gorillas are the warriors of the new order. They provide the generals and the soldiers for the ape armies. They are incapable of dealing with the arts and sciences, and thus tend to resent such thingsand those who practice them. They hate men and will hunt them for sport. The Gorillas represent about 40% of the ape population.
Ape Society
In general, the apes tend t o bellback-to-natureltypes who have little to do with the mechanical devices of mans world. The Gorillas, however, gladly use weapons, including firearms. Some manufacturing capability exists, but mostly the apes rely on found and maintained tools of man. Humans are used as pets, slaves, and houseservants. It is considered in very poor taste to dress a human. As mentioned before, a council rules although all are theoretically allowed to speak before it. The greatest law of the apes is ape shall not kill ape. This does not, of course, apply to the naked ape, man. Most details of the society are, and rightly so, left to the gamesmaster. Even the details given in sourceworks will vary, as they are set in different historical periods.
The Chimpanzees
The Chimpanzees are the scientists and artisans of the new order. They are pacifists and prefer to let others decide their own courses, rather than forcing one upon them. Chimps consider the martial Gorillas uncouth and obnoxious but, following their general philosophy, rarely bring this hostility into the open. The Chimps often use humans as laboratory animals, since the latter are so close to the structure of the higher species of apes. The Chimpanzees comprise about 40% of the ape population. Chimpanzees will always have a Hindrance when studying Combat Skills are receive only one-half the initial score value.
Characters in a World of Apes

Characters for this type of Post-Holocaust world will receive initial values in Attributes and Talents. Talents are still subject to the psychological profile results. If an Attribute has an initial value less than 1 it must be raised to 1 before the start of play. Characters would start at Age Group 1. Apes and Wild Humans would not be Changed but all city men would. Wild Humans are poor for Player Characters due to their limitations, but are included to give the Gamesmaster an idea of their statistics
The Orang-utans
The Orang-utans are the politicians and leaders of the apes. They are notoriously conservative and are fully capable of warping the truth to their own ends. They tend toward a scientific bent and, though few are warriors themselves, they often have a good command of strategic
Attribute Modification Chart

Initial values are given. The number in parentheses is the maximum value for the Attribute if that has been changed from 40. Wit Will Strength Gorillas Chimpanzees Orang-utans Wild Humans City Men -5(30) 3 +5 -5(10) +5 -5 +8(50)
Deftness 430)
Speed -(30) -1 -5(25) -
Health
+2
430) -5(30)
+2
-5(30) -(30) -
-(50) +1(45)
+1(45)
+2
-5(10) +5
+2
-5(30)
Talent Modification Chart

Charismatic Gorillas Chimpanzees Orang-utans Wild Humans City Men Combative +4
-2
Communicative
Esthetic
Mechanical -2 +4 +3 -1
+1
Natural
Scientific
-2
-3
+O
-2
+3 +3
+O
+O +O
-2
+o
+O
-10
+o
+o
+10
+3
+4
-4 -2
-2
+2
:
i
+O
-3
+5
-5
-5 +5
I,,
I.,
i c(
USEFULNESS OF ANIMALS
Beasts will have uses to a man in the Aftermath. The Flesh is food, and the hide may be turned into clothing or armor. Each kind of animal, and in some cases a specific animal, is rated for the amount of edible mass in the body, the chance of contamination, the food value of the edible mass, and the amount and kind of hide available from the carcass. These values are found on the chart below.
ANIMAL
Hostile
Bear Cat, large feral Dog Reptiles Alligator Snake Rodent Shark
EFFECTIVE OIo OF BODY MASS EDIBLE

25% 25O/o 25% 33% 25% 50% 50% 25%
FOOD VALUE I N MAN-DAYS OF RAT1ONS/ENC

2 2 2
4
O/o CHANCE OF IT BEING CONTAMINATED
NUMBER OF LOCATIONS OF HIDE (ARMOR MATERIAL)

20 of HH 3 o f LH 3 of LH number equal to Class of LH 2ofHH 5ofSH l/Mass of LH number equal to 1/2 Mass of HH variable 8 of HH 25 of AH 5ofAH 1 0 o f HH
25% 25% 30% 15%
30% 20%
50%
number equal to 112 Mass of SH
25O/o
10%
Non-hostile
Game Razorback Rhinoceros Elephant
60% 15%
15% 3
50 of HH
15 of LH none 10 of LH
Other
Man Cockroach Horse
80%
50% 100/0
5
3
30
THE NON-PLAYER CHARACTER

In the course of a game campaign, the Player Characters will meet and interact with a bewildering variety of other characters. These are all non-player characters in the control of the Gamesmaster. In some campaigns, the Gamesmaster will have friends run some of the characters for him. This allows him to function purely as a referee. Non-player characters are any beings that the Player Characters meet. Most of them will be human. Many will simply be members of the faceless mob, but others will be Personality Non-Player Characters. These are designed by the Gamesmaster with as much detail as the players put into their own characters. All the statistics are known and the character is given a definite personality. Non-player characters can appear in the campaign as adversaries, friends, flunkies, acquaintances, superiors, or in any other position relative to the Player Characters that the Gamesmaster can think of. Some will be dumb, some smart, some helpful, some dangerous. I n short, they wiil come in as great a variety as real people and the characters of fiction. It is the job of the Gamesmaster to bring life to these characters. The more real they seem, the more life they will bring to the game. When playing a non-player character, the Gamesmaster should remember that the character does not have the omniscient knowledge of the Gamesmaster himself. The character will only be able to make decisions using data that would be available to him. This is sometimes a difficult task. Planning a non-player characters action for a turn before asking the players to announce the actions of their characters will help to maintain the separation of Gamesmaster and character knowledges. This can lead to the demise of the Gamesmasters favorite Personality NonPlayer Character, but if the players have managed to get things to go their way through good play, the Gamesmaster should be prepared to let his character meet his fate. Thus, in order to use a character, the Gamesmaster must know the characterk Attribute scores, the values of the abilities used in Detailed Action Time, the characters BCS in a pertinent Skill, the armor worn, the weapons and gear available, and any pertinent special data. The expression of Attribute and Ability scores is simple. A listing of pertinent Skills will follow. The characters BCS in the Skill is placed after the Skill name and in parentheses. If the Skill is a Combat Skill and the character has a score greater than 100, the BCS of the second 100 points follows the BCS. This second number is the characters Control Throw. Each four points in this second number represents a point of Aim. The Weapon Defense Ability of a character will depend on the weapon Skill in use. This has a value of 1 for every 5 points of BCS. The armor worn by a character is listed in garments. Each garmenr has the Locations covered and the material of the garment presented inside parentheses. Weapons are listed in order of the characters preference for use. I f the weapon uses some form of ammunition, the information on the amount available will be listed at that point. A gun is assumed to have a full load and any rounds listed are those available for reloading. Any special notes o n the character will follow. This can include patterns of behavior, distinguishing marks, other equipment, concerns, relationships with other characters, preferred tactics, etc. This entire description is headed by the characters name. This can be followed with a brief description of his position or way of life. If important, the characters age can be placed in parentheses at the end of this line. An example of such a character summary is presented below. If the Gamesmaster has a number of such characters, each could beenteredon aseparate3~5card and theentire stock kept in a file box until needed. John Sample, survivor of the Ruin, loner (43) WT 12 BAP 6 WL 12 MNA 2 STR 12 PCA 3 DFT 12 CDA 1 SPD 12 HLH 12 DRT 24
HANDLING NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS

Most of the Gamesmasters characters will be humans. As can be seen by simply looking at a Character Record Sheet, there are a great number of statistics involved in quantifying a character. For the purposes of simple non-player characters, these can be reduced somewhat. Several assumptions are made.
0
Skills: Rifle, Modern (20/5); Brawling (15); Automobile

Mechanic ( 7 )
The Attribute statistics in use for a non-player character are those appropriate to whatever Encumbrance Status the character is at, due to whatever armor he is wearing and gear he is carrying. Non-player characters do not Learn-by-Doing and thus need no Talent scores. a non-player character is noted as having a Skill requiring a prerequisite and the prerequisite Skill is not listed. the character is assumed to have the Drereauisite Skill at the minimum possible value: that is. a score of 25 for a BCS of 5 . Non-player characters often have Skills other than those listed in their description. Only those most likely to be used or those important in defining the character are listed. The Gamesmaster may add Skills to the characters repertoire as he thinks appropriate.
Armor: Fatigue jacket (4-11, HC); Pants (10-18, HC); Boots (17-20, LL)
Weapons: Rifle R1 with 15 rounds of 30-06 in a bullet belt; Trench Knife
Notes: Prefers to run away from a fight if possible. He has survived by not getting involved. He has a deathlyfear of being bitten by a rabid dog.
.If
John Sample is 43 years old. His Attribute scores can simply be read. His Ability scores will be needed for Detailed Action time can also be read. He has a BCS of 20 with a modern long gun, a Control Throw of 5 , and 1 point of Aim. When using Brawling Skill, he will have a WDA of 3. The notation of Automobile Mechanic Skill implies that he also has Technology Use Skill. Since no score is given for that Skill, he is assumed to have the minimum necessary to use the Automobile Mechanic Skill for which Technology Use is a prerequisite. Thus, he has a Technology Use BCS of 5 .
31
As an example of interpreting the armor designations, we will use the Fatigue jacket. The garment is indicated as covering Locations 4 to 11 on the Body Map. That means its Armor Value, i f it is the best on the Location in question, will be subtracted from the Damage Potential of any attacks which are targeted on that Location. The ArmorValuecan be determined by finding the material represented in this designation by its letter Code on the Armor Material List which is Appendix 3 in Book 2. The Format for that material can also be gotten from the list. As familiarity with the system grows, the Gamesmaster will be able to tell the Armor Value and Format of a material simply by knowing what the material is. A Rifle R1 (the designation is from the firearms listing which is Appendix 1 in Book 3) can come in a number of calibers. The ammunition listed indicates that the rifle is of 30-06 caliber. Since that rifle will hold 4 rounds of 30-06 ammunition, Samples total ammunition is 19 rounds. The notation concerning where the spare ammunition is kept allows the Gamesmaster to determine the time necessary for Sample to reload. All data on the rifle can be gotten from the gun list. The Trench Knife without Knife Skill implies that Sample uses the blade for utility work but may take advantage of the Brass Knuckle function of the knife when he is in a brawl. The notes are self-explanatory. They add some color to the simple listing of statistics.
Heroic. Each will give a character a specific set of Attribute and Ability scores. WT Average Quality Heroic Quality
11
WL
11
STR 11 21 31 PCA 2
DFT 11 21 31 CDA
1
SPD 11 21 31
HLH 11 21 31 DRT 22 42 62
Superior Quality 21 31 BAP Average Quality Superior Quality Heroic Quality
21 31 MNA 2
5
10
3
4
3
3
15
TOO MANY CHARACTERS

When the Gamesmaster is running a scenario involving large numbers of characters, he may find himself lost in a morass of numbers. If hefeelscapableof handling individual statistics for each and every character, he may go right ahead and try. The players will have little problem, as they have only one or two sets of statistics with which to concern themselves. For the harried Gamesmaster, we have evolved the concept of typical characters. A typical character will have a given set of statistics. Any number of characters in a given Detailed Action Time situation can be designated as belonging to a given grouping of typical characters. This allows the Gamesmaster to handle several characters at once in an Action Phase. When resolving Actions of such characters he can almost treat a grouping of characters as he would a single character. At least, he can determine the start of their Actions all at once instead of having characters initiate Actions on widely varying Action Phases. TO further simplify a multitude of characters, they are rated for an Expertise Level. Each Level has a BCS associated with it. The character will have certain Skills specified as primary Skills. He will have the same BCS with all his primary Skills. Secondary Skills will have a lower Expertise Level. Characters will be assigned an Armor Kit appropriate to the situation. Thus, a Gamesmaster need only have the specifics of one set of armor and clothing which can be referred to for several characters. This is much easier on a Gamesmaster than referring to separate descriptions of each garment for each character when there are a number Of characters involved. The Gamesmaster may also find it convenient to have several characters armed with the same weapons. The problem of keeping track of ammunition expended has no such easy solution. Such armaments could be referred to as Weapons Kits.
In addition, a character may be specified as Increased. This will add 5 to the specified Attributes and adjust the pertinent Abilities. Thus, an Increased Average: WT would have a WT score of 16 and no Ability scores would be altered. If the character had SPD designated as the Increased Attribute, the BAP would be changed to 8 and the PCA to 4. Multiple Increases are certainly possible A group of weight-lifters might will be designated as Increased Average: STRx5, giving them a STR score of 36 while all the other Attribute scores remain at 11. Characters, especially those that make up the bulk of a large force attacking a group of adventurers, may be designated as Rabble or Extras. Rabble have half the number of points in their DRT as are indicated by the normal calculations. Extras are even less resistant to injury. If the Damage Potential of an attack against an Extra is not completely reduced by the Extras armor, he will be killed if the damage was lethal or rendered unconscious if it was subdual damage.
EXPERTISE LEVELS
The most common application of Expertise Levels is in regard to Combat Skills. The characters primary weapons are used with the BCS for the Expertise Level for which the character is rated. Secondary weapons are used at a lower level of Expertise. The Gamesmaster may find it simplest always to use the next lower level of Expertise rather than designate tertiary, quarternary, etc., Skills. The Expertise Levels are: Green Novice Trained Veteran Elite Heroic BCS 5 BCS8 BCS 11 BCS 14 BCS 17 BCS 20 + If a character is designated Heroic with a Combat Skill, he will have a Control Throw of 2D5. Aim, if available, will be determined from this second BCS. Thus, a Trained character whose primary weapons are a rifle and a knife, and whose secondary weapons are the bayonet on the rifle as a polearm, Brass Knuckles, and a Ceremonial Sword, would have a BCS of 11 if Rifle, Modern, and Knife Combat Skill. He would also have a BCS of 8 in Polearm, Brawling, and Single Weapon Skills. It is assumed that he will be classified as Green with any other Weapons. I f the weapons listed are not broken down into primary and secondary, the Gamesmaster may assume that the first weapon listed is the primary and all others are secondary. A weapon listed in the notes section indicates that the character has a Green Expertise with theskill governing that weapons use.
NON-PLAYER CHARACTER QUALITY

Non-player characters, who are not specially designed, have three basic levels of Quality: Average, Superior, and
32
ARMOR KITS
Armor Kits may be simple or complex. They may consist of many or only a few garments. The Gamesmaster should keep a careful note of what garments he designates as comprising an Armor Kit. Characters may also be designated as having an Armor Kit plus some other garments in addition to those in the Kit. If a character is specified as having a garment that could not be worn over a specific Location along with a garment noted as being in the Kit, the garment in the character description can be assumed to replace the garment in the Armor Kit for that character only. A sample Armor Kit might be the one presented as the Armor for John Sample on page 31. If the Gamesmaster has more than one non-player character in a group wearing this type of clothing, he can designate it as Armor Kit 1. A character with a steel army helmet in addition to the fatigues could then be specified as having Armor Kit 1 plus Helmet (1, SP).
Superior Rabble, Trained Skills: Tailor (12); WeavingEpinning (12) Armor: Kit 1 plus Helmet (1, SP) and Gloves (29-30, HC) Weapons: Kit 1 less grenade Notes: Would rather be at home. Carries Mk.6 grenade. Although they are not listed, the character has the following Skills: Rifle, Modern (BCS 11). Knife (BCS 8), and Single Weapon (BCS 8). As a Superior Quality character, all the Attribute scores will be 21. All the Ability scores have standard values except the DRT. This will only have a value of (21 + 10.5 + 10.5)/2 or 21 since the character is designated as Rabble.
USING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS

Playtesting has shown that most Gamesmasters could deal with 2 to 4 sets of statistics within a given group. A popular combination was a Personality Non-Player Character with individual statistics, one or two tough standardized characters, three or four of medium difficulty, and the rest fairly easy-to-take. Often the latter category was classed as Rabble or Extras. The Gamesmaster should always try to balance the challenge. I f he is facing the players with something that their characters will not be able to beat in a direct confrontation, he should leave them a way to escape annihilation. I f he consistently fails to do this, his players will lose interest and all his work on the campaign will go to waste. We have also found that the occasional encounter with a large number of Extras allows the players to achieve results resembling the massive victories so common in literature. Such free-for-alls can be great fun for both the players and the Gamesmaster. However, note the word occasional. A steady diet of such simple victories is every bit as boring as constant encounter with the unbeatable. Variety is the goal of a good Gamesmaster. Variety can be achieved in the type of characters encountered as well as in the basic adventure itself.
SAMPLE SHORT FORM CHARACTER

Let us assume a character designated as Superior Rabble. The character is given an Expertise Level of Trained. This character is one of five in the group that the Player Characters are about to meet. Each of the non-player characters is wearing essentially the same outfit. Each has the same basic armament. The typical member of this group wears a Fatigue jacket (4-1 1, HC), Pants (10-18, HC), Boots (17-20, LL), and a Flakjacket (4-12, LP-AA). He isarmed with an M-14 rifle with two spare clips and three loose rounds of ammunition, a Trench Knife, a Ceremonial Sword, and a Mk.6 Grenade. The specific character in question does not haveThrowing Skill with which to use the grenade. The character does have a steel helmet and a pair of gloves. Thus the short form of character listing would be: Joan Sample, reluctant soldier (28)
33
TECHNOLOGY IN THE AFTERMATH

The technological wonders available in a campaign depend upon two factors which the Gamesmaster must decide on as he is laying the first foundations of the gameworld: What level did technology reach in the pre-Ruin world? How much of it is still present in usable or repairable form? There is a dilemma in this.Aftermath! is designed for use in cultures which do not much exceed our own in technological development, though there is no reason not to build a more science-fictiony campaign if you want to. However, some of the basic postulates we will be making about the available pre-Ruin technology are not valid unless our progress here and now (1981) is assumed to be farther along in Someareas than it actually is. Otherwise, the date of civilizations fall is pushed further and further into the future. Our own playtests set it at around 2000. However you choose to settle this, we will here set forth rules covering a number of basic areas defined as High Technology material. Much of this material is very complex in the real world. Indeed, much of it is beyond the authors comprehension, even after considerable research. Readers knowledgeable in electricity, for example, will no doubt cry aloud in horror at some of the rules governing that phenomenon. On the other hand, players do not need an Electrical Engineering degree to use them. the society that produced them. If such a movement were to gain credence among the consumers of the pre-Ruin world, it could well lead to the gift of preserved goods passed on to the scavengers of the Aftermath.
ELECTR ICITY
When you come down to it, the single most important resource in modern technology is energy, usually in the form of electrical energy. The bulk of our electricity today (as we are all too well aware) come from petrochemicals: oil mainly, followed by coal. But there is study going forward in alternate forms of energy, sources of electricity that need not die when our civilization does. Someof thesecould continue to operate via automated control and maintenance, or by the efforts of dedicated bands of survivors who feel an obligation to keep their part of the old knowledge alive. Other sources might be reproduceable by survivors on a local basis. Electricity might be something scavenged from the ruins, like food or weapons, or something that can be homebrewed, like alcohol for your truck (or for a cold winter night).
MEASUR ING ELECTRICITY

How do we measure the amount of electricity a character has available from some source, or the amount he must expend to operate some device? There are two forms of electricity to consider:
PACKAGING
The mundane-seeming question of packaging is central to the use of High Technology in Aftermath! This stuff is going to be sitting around for years, decades, even centuries in some campaigns. Characters should be able to mine the ruins for usable manufactured resources, things their own culture is unable to produce. This is hardly worth theeffort if the goods are not to be found in edible-wearable-shootableotherwise usable shape. As we discussed briefly in the Survival section of Book 2, we are positing an improved system of packaging in the preRuin civilization. Plastics technology and a more rigorous method of eliminating contaminants, chemical or bacterial, from the packaged substance, point the way t o a means of sealing anything from foodstuffs to industrial machinery away from the effects of passing years. Small items: food, liquor and tobacco, light machines, clothing, medical supplies; all could be vacuum packed, or sealed in an inert atmosphere (nitrogen or argon) for storage. Larger items would be sprayed in an epoxy-like resin which would solidify into a time-proof outer skin. Apply a solvent, attach a power supply, and bingo! It works again as if it were just off the assembly line. New silicone lubricants would replace grease as a preservative and greasing medium, much more resistant to the passage of time than the petroleum compounds used today. But why should such a packaging renaissance happen in the first place? We can see one possible rationale emerging today. Western Civilization is developing an increasing horror of wasting resources. Yet much of what our industries produce is never used! It sits on the shelf, or i n the warehouse, until it is not useful any longer, and then it is thrown away. But is something could be produced, and stored until needed, a week later, or a year, or ten years, then it becomes logical that stockpiles of goods will long outlast
Stored Power: Electricity held in a battery until needed. It may be released in a continuous flow or in large jolts. In
Aftermath? we have posited the development of highly durable Eternabatteries, or E-batteries. Their capacity for current is rated in Charges. Let us assume a value of about 100 watt-hours (see below) as constituting a Charge.
Current Electricity being generated, flowing along a

circuit, is current. It will be rated in watts, for ease in converting it into Charge values and vice-versa. These are terms of convenience, and relate to their actual meanings in electrical work only in the most abstract way. To turn watts into watt-hours, it is necessary to measure the flow of current over a period of time. A 1-watt current will generate 1 watt-hour of electricity in 1 hour. 1 watt-hour battery could provide a 1-watt current for 1 hour. To build up 1 Charge in a battery, you must have a 100-watt current flow into the battery for an hour. A 50-watt current will need to flow for 2 hours. The formula is: Watts x Hours = Watt-Hours. A 100 watt-hour Charge will keep a 100-watt light bulb burning for 1 hour. It will keep a 50-watt bulb burning for 2 hours, or a 10-watt bulb going for 10 hours. The formula is: Hours of Operation = (Charges x 100)/Watts consumed. The Gamesmaster may approach rating the wattage of devices in several ways. He may assign wattages to them (e.g., portable 2-way radio, 20 watts; searchlight, 1500 watts; and so on). Much of this information is available in catalogues for such merchandise. In fact, on most household appliances, federal law now requires a sticker giving the wattage rating. This approach is best for largeconsumption deveices that will be operated for long periods of time, from hours on up. For very low-power devices that will be used in an on-andoff manner (flashlights, walkie-talkies, calculators,
34
watches, etc.) the most convenient solution seems to be a statement that 1 battery (usually an E-1) will keep the thing working for 1 year. This way, it is only necessary to record whe,? the battery was last replaced, instead of the tedious process of bookkeeping involved in recording every minute usage of power, to the second. Lastly, for devices used on a one large shot basis, the Gamesmaster may rate the drain on the battery in Charges. This is the obvious approach to electrically-powered weapons (Lasers, Electro-weapons), as well as fiash units on cameras, or tailored articles (this electric camp stove takes 1 Charge to cook 1 ration). A variant is the device which uses significant fractions of a Charge, like the electric vehicles, getting so many kilometers to the Charge. Go half that many kilometers, use half a Charge, and so on.
magnetic field of that core, causing electrons to move in a given direction. The result: current. The enormous generator-turblnes, powered by oil- or coal-burning furnaces, are not likely to survive the Ruin, if they have not been replaced by some other power source by then. But several other forms of mechanical generator are very likely to be useful to the characters. Man-Powered Generators The three most common types are cranked models (worked by hand), treadmills (which pool the work of several men to turn the shaft), and the bicycle generator. Hand-cranked models are useful primarily for recharging batteries in emergencies, or for providing power to small devices on the spot. They are generally provided as a backup power supply on military radio sets. The current generated by a crank generator is equal to the Strength Group of the user, in watts. He can maintain this rate of work for a period of time equal to 20 minutes times his Health Group. After that, he becomes Fatigued. He can then continue cranking at an effective Strength Group 1 less than his normal score, for a number of minutes equal to his Health. He then becomes Fully Fatigued and cannot turn the crank any longer. Treadmill models are not portable, unless carried piecemeal. A description, of a Rube Goldberg sort of treadmill generator is found in Walter Millers novel A Canticle for Liebowitz. Their current has a wattage equal to the total Strength Groups of the characters on the treadmill. The Gamesmaster should assign a maximum wattage to the generator, as there is a point of diminishing returns to such addition. The characters can keep the generator going on the same basis as they can keep walking, as i f they were traveling in Strategic Scale. Fast March can be used to increase the current for a short period, doubling the output. Long March can be used to put out more power in the day. It should be mentioned that unscrupulous communities in need of power might turn to a slave economy to turn treadmill generators. The movie Soylent Green features the late Edward G. Robinson pumping a bicycle generator at one point. These are more in the line of an exercycle. The bike does not travel, but turns the shaft of a small generator. The base current is equal to the characters Strength Group in watts, with a multiplier of 2-3 for the bikes mechanical leverage. Bicycle Skill is not required to use it. Constructing a generator of one of these types requires materials (and a bicycle if you are making the third kind). The relevant Skills are Electrcal Power Generation, Mechanical Power Generation, and any other Mechanical Skill that the Gamesmaster feels is relevant. Task Points run from about 50 to build a crank generator, to 100 or more for a large treadmill. Task Periods are in 1-day increments. Hooking the generator up to anything but a leech transformer for Eternabattery charging, or some device designed to be powered by a small generator, is a Task for the Electrician. Wind and Water Power The mechanical energy derived from the swift passage of air or water is a potential source of power, one recognized today by the enormous hydroelectrical plants of the power utilities and the small windmills of the farmer and commune dweller alike. There is no real way to work out a consistent formula for a windmills output. I f the only figures of significance are Charges generated over a given period (say a week) then 1DlOO f 20 seems a decent amount for a small unit. If the current being generated at a given moment is important, roll 1DlOand 1D6. Read theOon theDlOasazero, not a 10. Multiply the two rolls. That is the current being generated at that time. Roll again every hour to deal with changes in the weather, unless there is some reason to
ETERNABATTERIES
The use of the Eternabattery is classically simple in most cases. To charge it, hook it up to any source of current via a leech, or induction transformer, to give it its formal name. When the connection has existed long enough for the wattage of the current to reach 100 x the Charge rating of the battery, the leech shuts down, and the battery is charged. Unless physically destroyed, the battery is indefinitely rechargeable. The only real difficulty in getting the power out of an Eternabattery occurs when it is being used t o supply the electricity for some device that is not.designed to use Ebatteries. This constitutes a Task, to be assigned a value by the Gamesmaster. The average Task Point range would be about 10-50, for fairly small conversions. The same applies to linking several smaller Eternabatteries together in series, to provide the necessary current to operate a device normally requiring a larger type of battery. For example, preparing a battery pack of ten E-5s to run a vehicle normally operated by one Ev-50: the relevant Skills would be Electrician, averaged with any relevant types of Mechanic or other related field of endeavor, and the usual Task Period would be on the order of 10-20 hours. Tools of some kind would be a necessity.
ACCUMULATORS
When dealing with large amounts of power, theoutput of a regional plant for instance, then another type of storage battery comes into the picture: theaccumulator. This is a big, fixed installation, holding hundreds or thousands of Charges. If you use an analogy of electricity as water, then Eternabatteries are canteens. Accumulators are the reservoirs. When power is being generated, it is a use-it-orlose-it situation. Accumulators are designed to take the surplus current and hold it as Charges. When the power is needed later, it is tapped and fed into the distribution system. They will generally be found in power plants, in factories, as auxiliary power supplied in small municipalities or rural areas, or in the holdings of technologically-oriented survivors. The Gamesmaster may assign any value he wishes to the accumulator, but in situations where the defenses a non-player character is bringing to bear upon the Player Characters are electrically powered by an accumulator, the Gamesmaster may wish t o limit the opponents resources to give the Players a chance to wear down his reserves. Controlling accumulators, or working with them in any decisive way, is under the jurisdiction of the Power Generation, Electrical Skill. Such operations will be on an industrial scale, requiring long Task Periods, and extensive tools and resources.
GENERATORS
With Generators, we pass from electrical storage to systems which convert one form of energy into electrical current. A generator is, specifically, a machine which converts mechanical energy into electricity. A shaft runs through a magnetic core. Turning the shaft interrupts the
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assume a longer or shorter period of stability. Hydroelectric power is more constant. The Gamesmaster must assign a value to the flow of the body of water being used. Small streams or natural small waterfalls would have a value of 1D6 x 100. The generator must be designed before it is built a Task requiring Skill in Electrical Power Generation and Physics. When the design Task is done, the Gamesmaster should roll 1020 until he scores less than the Average BCS in theseSkills.The Effect Numberfrom this roll divided by 10 will provide a factor of efficiency for the generator. This factor times the water sources constant value is the current that will be generated by the device. It is then built using the appropriate construction Skills. There may be seasonal fluctuations in the waters constant, based on rainfall and local climate. This is completely up to the Gamesmaster and his sense of detail. It is probably not worth the trouble except for campaigns where Players are running whole communities, and getting into simulations of the ecological factors which govern their lives. Motorized Generators Any internal combustion engine can be rigged to turn a generator shaft. So can an electric motor for that matter, but to prevent Players from exploiting loopholes in the following rules, we shall decree that such a hookup will generate electricity at exactly half the rate that theengine consumes it! The Maximum Safe Speed for the type of engine being used is the basis for the currents wattage. It will generate power equal t o that figure times 10 watts, consuming fuel as if traveling at that rate. This is probably over-generous. Unless using a motorized generator that was made for the purpose, substantial modification to the device is called for. It will certainly not be able to run as a vehicle while so altered. The relevant Skills for the conversion are Power Generation and the Mechanic Skill for the type of vehicle. It can then be hooked up as Eternabatteries are, with Electrician Skill. The Task Points will be on the order of 50100, with a Task Period of about 1 hour. Tools are needed. Changing your car back into a car is a Task of half theTask Point cost for the switch from vehicle t o generator.
24 hours if the weather is clear. I f overcast, raining, at the North Pole, or what have you, divide the figure by 2. If you wish the hourly values of the current in watts, here is a table figuring sunrise at 0600 and sunset at 1800 hours. 0600-0900 50 watts per Screen used 0900-1500 100 watts per Screen used (max. efficiency) 1500-1800 50 watts per Screen used Again, halve thesevalues if it isan overcast day. If anything cuts off the light entirely (like a thick coating of snow, spray paint, etc.) cut the current to 0. Setting up Solar Screen arrays, rigging them to feed normal power supplies, and other such manipulations, are in the province of Solar Power Generation Skill.
NUCLEAR POWER This subject is not going to be treated exhaustively here, it is just too darn big. Suffice it to say that in the authors
opinion, if large power plants can be kept alive by automated controls or survivor groups, they will probably be nuclear rather than other types that we have today. At that, modern fission reactors may not outlive the technology that bore them by long, requiring too many external facilities (fuels, waste disposal) to survive in the jungle of the Aftermath. But we can always assume cleaner reactor designs have been introduced. Moreover, nuclear fusion provides a very hopeful picture, producing minimal wastes, and possibly requiring less complicated rare fuels to operate. Building such plants is not within the scope of the Nuclear Power Generation Skill. This is an operators knowledge of such plants: how to handle routine maintenance, minor troubleshooting, and ongoing production of energy. The main reason for keeping a nuclear capability in the campaign is to provide a rationale for the next section.
SALVAGING ELECTR IClTY

I f an area, probably a city, is still in theservice network of a large power plant, presumably nuclear, then there may yet be live electric circuits in its buildings. If this is thecase, then electricity becomes another resource to be scavenged by the characters. This power is available over one of four types of line: Household, Hvy. Household, Lt. Industrial, Hvy. Industrial. The wattage available from such lines is based on the voltage of the line, controlled by its construction, and the amperage, controlled by the type of fuse or circuit breaker used on the line. Voltage x Amperage = Wattage. Attempting to draw more power than this at any one moment will cause the fusing device to blow out. If it is a standard fuse, it must be completely replaced. If it is a circuit-breaker switch, it must be manually reset. Such switches are not always in the same area as the outlets that were used. In large Offices O r apartment complexes, they may be in someentirely different part of the building.
FUEL CELLS
Fuel Cells are the first of several power sources we will examine that produce current by non-mechanical means. They derive electricity from the chemical action of breaking down certain substances (water, methane, oil) in a manner that we confess we do not quite understand. But as research in forging ahead on these, lets posit the desigr; achieved before the Ruin as something like this. Water is passed through a specially designed membrane that chemically separates the hydrogen and oxygen i n it, tapping the small amount of electricity which derives from the reaction. The fuel cell is a small cube, 50cm on a side, weighing about 2 ENC, and designed to be hooked u p in series to produce any desired current. Each fuel cell produces a current of 10 watts, running for 1 hour on .5 liter of water. This should be distilled or filtered water, to avoid clogging the membrane with debris.
SOLARSCREENS
If you wish to use true solar power (i.e., photovoltaic power, electricity derived directly from sunlight), here is a system designed for use in Aftermath! A screen-like device was discovered shortly before the Ruin. Cheap, easily transportable, and completely modular, it is manufactured in 1-square-meter units, and was widely distributed before the end came. A single Solar Screen weighs 1.5 ENC. It will convert about 10% of impinging sunlight into current. This works out to about 100 watts under ideal conditions. To figure the daily output in a lump sum of watt-hours, multiply the area of the screen in square meters by900. This representstheoutput in
1 WATTAGE OUTPUT TABLE

Household
Lt. Industrial
Voltage Amperage 110 20
Current 2200 watts 6600 watts 22-44 kilowatts 100-200 kilowatts
Hvy. Household 220 440 1000 Hvy. Industrial
30
50-100 100-200
Household Lines may be used directly to power appliances, small power tools, anything that would be run on normal current today.
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Hvy. Household is used to operate large appliances (washers, deep-freezes, air conditioner or ventilating pumps) and heavy duty equipment (commercial radio transniitters, large spotlights, heavy shop tools). Light Industrial Lines provide the power for large printing presses, assembly lines, any large industrial plants heaviest eq uipment. Hvy. Industrial Lines are not used directly. They are feeders from the even higher voltages used in transmission lines to carry power from generator plant to users. One would expect to find this kind of line feeding into the substation at an industrial site. An Electrician can convert thecurrent from any higher line into two of the next lower lines. I.e., a 440-volt Lt. Industrial Line could be run through a transformer to generate current for two 220-volt Hvy. Household Lines. One of these could, in turn, be converted into two 110-volt Household Lines. The process can be reversed in the same way. A useful rule of thumb for figuring theTask Points on this job is to give it a number of points equal to the difference in voltage between the lines used, divided by 10. The Task Period is based on the more powerful of the two lines involved. Hvy. Household: 1 hour; Lt. Industrial: 5 hours; Hvy. Industrial: 10 hours. The Task Points or Period may be modified down if the necessary circuitry is all intact, and simple reconnections are needed. The base values assume the Electrician is cobbling a transformer station together.
technology, or are they using the cloak of religion to preserve and protect the old knowledge until it is time to release it to the world again? It is a safe bet, in a campaign where old devices abound that do not function for want of power, that characters who achieve some ability in generating electricity will be able to parlay this into significant prestige. As the majority of desirable high-technology artifacts in use will be batterypowered, the campaign can probably do very nicely with no power available except from portable crank generators, treadmills in cities, and so on. Of course high-technology places of mystery (old security bases and such) will need some kind of constant power supply if their magical dangers and defenses are to function. This feature alone may be sufficient justification for the characters to risk penetrating such dangerous spots. Legends might develop about the lost magic of the old tools, recoverable only by confronting the demons of the lost cities.
ELECTROCUTION
When dealing with electricity, the subject of electrocution must be mentioned. A character may be exposed to this hazard by accident (a Critical Miss while working with a hot circuit), carelessness (messing with a hot circuit without proper tools or Skills), or attack (electroweapons, electrified fences, lightning bolts, etc.). If the damage is being put out by a battery, i.e., dumping a bolt of power out in one shot, the base damage is 1D10 per Charge. I f the shock comes from a live wire, one carrying current, then the base damage is derived as if the line wereattacking. An Effect Die is calculated as if the Strength of the line = Voltage/lO. The Effect Die roll receives a multiplier, like the WDM, equal to the Amperage/lO. Thus, a 110-volt line with a 20-amp fuse will have a score of 110/10, or 11, for a Group of 3,and will therefore roll a base damage of 1D10. This die roll receives a multiplier of 20/10, or 2. Electrocution does Subdual damage, capable of killing only if it exceeds the DRT, as specified in Book 1.
USING SALVAGED CURRENT

There are two ways in which this may be used, or rather, two ways to keep track of power drains on the line. I f electricity is being tapped for storage in a battery, the only significant question is how long it will take to put a full Charge into the device. The formula is: Hours = (Battery Capacity in Chargesx lOO)/WattageoftheLine.Thusa2200watt Household Line will fully charge an E-5 in 500/2200 hours, or slightly under .25 hours. I f using the power in continuous drain, the Players and Gamesmaster should be aware that the maximum wattage in devices that may be operated off of it at any one time is equal to the wattage rating for the line. One can run 2000 watts worth of equipment on a 2200-watt Household Line with no problem. 2300 watts on the linewill blowthe fuse. If charging batteries from a line which has steady drainage from equipment of it as well, the leech transformer will draw only the surplus power. I f 2000 watts of current are being used to run equipment, the battery will take only 200 watts. This will naturally increase the time needed to run up a Charge. Overloading a line will blow out the breaker or fuse as stated above.
OPTION Burn Damage The Gamesmaster may specify that the hand/hands grasping the wire, if that is how the damage was taken, idare disabled with burns. The character will suffer Critical Damage to his hand(s) equal to 10% of the Lethal damage done by the shock (i.e., of the damage done in excess of the DRT). A Speed CST allows him to have released his grip before the burns had this effect and only the normal damage is suffered.
ELECTRICITY IN THE 200 YEARS AFTER CAMPAIGN

The prevalence of electrical knowledge and resources in such a campaign is not something that can be legislated by the rules. If the Gamesmaster decides that some large plant (almost certainly nuclear if it is still operating) is still producing power, then it will exist. If he wants to posit the smaller generators as being in the body of common knowledge, that is also completely feasible. Temples dedicated to the Sun God, who makes the old magic work again (i.e. a Solar Screen installation) are a distinct possibility. The potentials in such a setup are very interesting. The priesthood of such a temple can be sincere believers, maintaining the plant by rote from the instructions in their Holy Books (maintenance manuals). Or they might know the truth of what they are doing. If so, are they unscrupulously perpetuating the myth of the Sun God to achieve power in their society, with impressive and very authentic miracles engineered by their preserved
INSULATlON
Insulation can be derived from specially-designed materials, which reduce the base damage of electrical shock, or from protective clothes or armor designed to stop more material hazards, but which provide some protection. If using, say, insulated gloves to handlea line, weare in the first case given above. Such insulation is rated as class 1,2,3, and so on. It will stop 1 Charge per point of insulation if the shock derives from a battery, or reduce the base damage Group by 1 per point i f a current is being used. If the protection is from armor, the Armor Value reduces the points of damage done by the shock. Plastic armor receives its full Armor Value against such damage. Natural materials (cloth, leathers) receive half their Armor Value (round up). Metal armor does not impede electrical shock at all. In manipulating electrified objects, a piece of plastic or wood will be quite safe. Metallic items, unless insulated for such use, will be exposed to current. If a character is touching the base metal at the other end of the item, he will
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receive a shock. Read MarkTwainsA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court for a homily on the unwisdom of trying to hack through an electrified fence with asword whiledressed in full plate armor.
SYSTEMS CONTROL
Programming is used to set up the Task for the automated shop or other system as specified above. The System Designer then performs his Task of tying in the various devices to proper computer control. Linkages between the computer and the device must be built if they do not already exist.
COMPUTERS
The big machines are perhaps the single most pivotal change in human resources in the late 20th centurys impressive list of such marvels. The principal uses of Computers in Aftermath! are: Data Storage: Material of all kinds can be retrieved by proper use of the system, according to the Gamesmasters decision as to what is in there in the first place. In playtest, we posited a number of access points (terminals) tied into a Public Data Bank, which could produce hard copy from libraries, news services, etc. Mack Reynoldss novellprojection Looking Backwards From the Year 2000 shows the capabilities of such a system when fully supported by a working technology.
COMPUTER RESOURCES
These are the capabilities the Gamesmaster has designed into the computer system. The categories are:
Task Points per Hour: Used to see how fast the system can
run through Process Models. The default value is 100 Task Points of simulated work per hour. Mini- or MicroComputers will be much slower (by up to a factor of 10). Big systems (IBM 370) will be much faster, about as fast as you care to name in most cases.
Power Consumption: Like any other electrically-powered

device, computers have a wattage rating. Normal systems draw from a Lt. Industrial Line at 5000 watts. MiniComputers use Household Lines at 800 watts.
Processing of Models: The Programmer sets up a model

of some Task on the computer and has it run through a simulation of the process. In any Task where possible errors exist, or variable efficiency due to design can occur, this allows the character to do the Task o n the computer first, and keep a record of the processes. When he finds a method that suits him, he may proceed to do it for real, and will be able to reproduce that outcome exactly, as long as he has all the resources that were in the computer model.
Memory: A figure expresing how much data can be stored in the system. Really big systems you dont have to worry
about. Theyll hold what they are given (the total human body of literature cannot fill them to capacity). Smaller units will be rated in terms of how many Skill points (not BCS points) they can store. A 1000-point unit (quite small) could store all of the data to give Reference BCS scores of 20 (i.e., Skill scores of 100) in 10 Skills. The Gamesmaster will be the one to assign the chances of a malfunction in the computer. A fairly stingy rule is: after completing a given Task on the computer, there is a percentage chance equal to .1 times the Memory, Task Points, or what have you, processed in that Task, that the computer system will develop a bug and shut down. Systems fitted with automated maintenance controlled by backup systems will repair themselves at some fixed rate, while others will require human attention.
Systems Control: The System Designer creates a

program and servomechanism system allowing the computer to control some process or device. Highly sophisticated applications of this type maintain automated power plants, factories, and defensive systems. The character in this way creates a Robot Controlled Device.
DATA STORAGE
Requires a Programming BCS. Locating a given piece of information is a 10-Task-Point job for every level of specification, with a 10-minute Task Period. So a Character wants printout on a Reference manual: find Reference section of data bank (10 points). Next, find Skill or Knowledge in question (10 points). Activate printer now if you want a copy of the text. If you are looking for a specific reference only-that is, the answer to only one query-then that is another 10-point Task. When it is finished, the answer prints out. Hardcopy devices are quite valuable, since they allow the work retrieved to be taken with the character. As paper is going to be hard to find, the Gamesmaster can avoid a sudden wealth of books from developing by limiting most terminals found to the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) type, where data is displayed on a T.V. screen.
CYBERNETICS
Cybernetics, as used in this game, covers several topics often used in Science Fiction: Robots, Robot-Controlled Devices, and Artificial Intelligence. Robots are machines designed to perform some function on their own without human guidance. They can range from industrial robots for welding car frames to surveying robots such as have been sent to Mars to the utility devices commonly found in SF stories. We distinguish robots designed to look like humans, and often to stand in for humans, by the name of Animatron. Robot-Controlled Devices are machines or mechanisms normally controlled by a human or several humans, but which have been put under the control of a robot brain. Such machines may be simple or complex. The after-hours walkup window used by many banks is a good example of this kind of device.
PROCESSING MODELS
Programming Skill is used, averaged with the Skills governing the process being simulated. The Programming job has 5 times the Task Cost of theactual work understudy, and a l-day Task Period as a rule. Once the program is completed, however, it can run through probable outcomes of the Task under study at a rate of 100 Task Points per hour, or faster (see Computer Resources below). I t requires 1 hour and a System Design BCS to interpret the printout back into the terms of the actual Task. Once a satisfactory way to do the job has been found, the Task will always come out that way when done according to the computers instructions. This is valuable in that it allows the character to avoid processes which might produce dangerous or inert materials.
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Artificial Intelligence is used to cover the concept of machines that think for themselves. This is intended to represent machines that deal with a wide variety of circumstances beyond a limited pre-programmed range. Chess-playing computers do not qualify under this definition. Artificial Intelligences usually have the capability of changing their programming in response to new data. For game purposes, a robot or computer that will be treated as if it had a human or near-human capability to think will be classed as an Artificial Intelligence.
ROBOTS
Robots can be built in many ways toserve many functions. They may or may not be mobile. They may or may not havea self-contained power source. In general, they will only be capable of a certain number of functions which will be guided by a basic set of programmed instructions. Robots will tend to be large, bulky, and awkward. Power will generally be supplied by cable to non-mobile Robots and, while mobile Robots often are battery-powered, they will usually contain an adaptor to allow them to draw power from a live circuit. The exact specifics of a Robots design will be left t o the Gamesmaster, as many such things are still prototypes and one-of-a-kind items. Production Line Robots will tend to be simple, rugged, dumb, and basically harmless. The Gamesmaster is enjoined to consider such things as power sources and demands on that source. Difficult or complex tasks will require the Robot to expend more power. If the Robot has a limited power source, it will eventually run down. If it has a limit on the amount of power that it can draw on, some tasks will be beyond its power. Also consider the nature of the device and the tasks for which it is programmed. A Robot will have a limited number of tasks which it may be programmed to perform. Simple tasks would not take up much of the Robots memory capability, while complex tasks or tasks requiring many decisions to be made during the execution will often take large amounts of memory capacity.
commands such as Stop, Lift, Lower, Release, etc. I t is also connected to a control board by which its actions may be directed b y a human operator. The brain of the device will hold 22 units of memory. Each command uses 1. The manual override function uses 2. The motion control circuitry which allows i t to move back and forth across the room takes 5. The programming allowing i t the basic operations of lifting and opening and closing the hand takes 10. Besides the commands specifically mentioned, the Robot c o u l d b e programmed for another simple command. Now consider this Robot reprogrammed to sinister ends. The manual override is removed, as are the verbal commands. Two units of memory are used to allow i t to locate audio sources in the room. Three units are used to allow i t to move toward motion and attempt to grasp and squeeze anything that moves. The last two units are used to let i t beat moving objects that i t is holding against a wall until they stop moving. The Robot has become a dumb but dangerous guardian of the room. The Gamesmaster is the final arbiter of the amount of memory the instructions for a task will fill. Healso will decide on power expenditure to fulfill a task. Some guidelines are presented in the chart below.
ROBOT-CONTROLLED DEVICES
Such devices could be almost anything. I f the device does not use its own power to function, the Robot Controller would have tosupply powerforthedeviceas well as for itself. Such devices are usually maintenance units allowing a human controller to leave and still have whatever the device does continue even though no human is there to supervise. Alternatively, a Robot Controller would be used to control a device or mechanism which will go wherea human controller cannot or will not go. Such a device would have to carry its own power supply with it. Robot Controllers would be constructed by the Gamesmaster in the same way as regular Robots in terms of power and memory considerations.
A Robot is designed for a laboratory as an aid to scientists. I t is to lift and hold objects and move them about the room. I t is given motion sensors to respond to hand signals for activation of the system. I t is given audio receptors to respond to a limited range of verbal
A n example o f a Robot-ControlledDevice might be a Cybernetic Tank. Such a device would operate exactly like a vehicle crewed by men. The capacity of the
ROBOT TASKS
Function
Perform an action Perform a Combat Action Use a Combat Skill Knowledge Memory
Memory
variable by complexity based on Skill
Power
.2Charge per
Action spent
.5 Charges per
Action see above
2 per BCS point 1 per point

of BCS in the knowledge
.5 Charges times
Effect number of die roll when knowledge used Simple tasks: 1 E charge per hour. More complex tasks will vary by the Gamesmasters evaluation .01 Charge per hour
Knowledge Integration with Performance of Skill
10
Maintenance function allowing Robot to be aware and wait for a specific signal to return to full operation.
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Cyber-tank to respond would be based o n the Robot Brain. Such a device would fill the tank, precluding human control. I t could be programmed to conduct maneuvers, fire the weapons, call for resupply of fuel and ammunition, and report enemy actions visible to its sensors A more advanced version, probably requiring Artificial Intelligence, would be able to make tactical decisions regarding its own safety on the battlefield and evidence a better ability to select suitable targets. Such devices would probably have a power source separate from the vehicles powersource. Damage that would affect the crew would affect the Robot Brain.
reflect this. The basic types are:
Demonstration: This kind is generally non-mobile. It is

used in stores, amusement parks, and in a receptionist capacity by businesses.
Servant: The principal function of this type is expressed in the name. Servant modelsare usually limited to one type of
service, although more expensive and complex models can serve in more than one capacity.
Simulation: This type is used for testing purposes in such

research as into the effects of automobile crashes on humans. Some are non-mobile and simply record effects on the body. Others are mobile and are programmed to respond in specific ways to thecircumstance being tested. This series is also used at certain high-priced fantasy parks where customers pay to live out fantasies. The choice of this model for such use is based on its ability to simulate damage received as if it were human. This includes System Shock and efficiency reductions due to damage.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
No hard-and-fast rules will be given concerning Artificial Intelligence. The Gamesmaster must decide on the limitations and power requirements of such things. A system of computers simulating a living intelligence, if it could be built today, would be quite large. With the advances in computer technology that are occurring even today, such a system might be smaller by a power of ten in twenty years or less. An Artificial Intelligence should be given goals to accomplish and parameters inside which it will function. Traditionally, such things are emotionless. The Gamesmaster will have to decide if the general opinion of the populace and/or the legal system sees intelligent machines as entities due treatment as any other intelligent entity, or if they are considered non-persons. Although such things may not be possible in the near future, they can make for an interesting scenario if handled properly.
Surrogate: This type is designed to perform functions

normally done by humans, but in environments which might be hazardous to human life due to the nature of the environment or the length of time required to perform the function.
Wardroid A self-explanatory purpose. Still expensive and

prototypical at the time of the Ruin. It was not yet costeffective, so humans were still used as soldiers. Animatrons can be programmed to move, act, and perform as a human. Each 5 points of Attribute score require 1 memory unit. Animatrons do not require Will and Health, and Wit is only pertinent for determining the sensors ability to distinguish Hidden Things. Most models are limited to human maxima. Wardroids have maxima of 50. The number of memory units available to an Animatron will vary. If the brain is external, it may be any size. If internal, the usual capacity will depend on the generation of the brain. For game purposes, 50 times thegeneration number will give a good base. Animatrons do not take damage as humans do. Each portion of the body has a Damage Resistance Total. That portion will continue to operate until the total damage received exceeds the Damage Resistance Total. Subdual damage from weapons does not affect an Animatron. Except for thesimulation type, Animatrons are not subject to System Shock. Different models have different Armor Values for the covering of the body. This basic Armor Value will add to the AV of any armor or clothing worn by the Animatron. Construction of Animatrons follows the basic design Of humans. Sensors are in the head and the power source is in the body. If the sensors are destroyed, the Animatron will be blind, and if the power source is destroyed, it will cease to function. Critical Hits against an Animatron are resolved on a special table. A Missile Special Effect against an Animatron uses the usual table. A Daze or Stun result against an Animatron will only last for a number of Action Phases equal to the machines Phases Consumed in Action number.
ANIMATRONS
Animatrons are Robots designed to function and look like humans. A prototype of such machines can be seen in the audio-animatronic creations of Walt Disney Enterprises. These represent a first generation of device. The power source and brain are not included in the body of the Robot. Motions and actions are preprogrammed and restricted to a fairly limited repertoire. These Robots are effectively nonmobile. We postulate several generations for each major system in Animatron construction. These are presented in brief in this chart:
SECOND THIRD FIRST GENERATION GENERATION GENERATION MOBILITY Non-mobile

Limited mobili- Fully mobile ty to the length of a power cord
POWER
External source External main Internal power so u r c e w i t h source equivalimited internal lent to an Ev-150 emergency supply equivalent to an Ev-20 Pre-programed specific instructions
BRAIN
Limited Wide rangeof response but response withsome decision- i n a r e a s o f making capa- programming bility A fourth-generation brain would be Artificial Intelligence. The brain in all cases need not be incorporated into the Robot body. It may be connected by a transmission cord or have its instructions relayed to the body by radio, microwave, or some other form of wireless communications. Animatrons are designed in several models. Each model is intended for a specific type of duty and is constructed to
......:-
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ANIMATRON STATISTICS BY MODEL Damage Resistance Structure Armor Value Model Total Rating 5 5 Demonstration Head: 15
Body: 25 Limb: 10 Servant Head: 15 Body: 25 Limb: 10 Simulation Head: 20 Body: 35
5 5 5
REPAIR AND REPROGRAMMING

Mass
8 The Gamesmaster who incorporates Cybernetic devices into his campaign may also wish to add a Skill in Robotic Design, which would function similarly to Computer Design Skill. Repair is accomplished as repair for vehicles, but Electrician Skill is used to do the work once the repair program is laid out by a qualified designer, that is, a character who has whatever Skill the Gamesmaster has designated as capable of understanding Cybernetic devices. Each portion (head, limb, body) is treated as a separateTask. Repair is accomplished as a Task. The repair program must first be laid out as a design Task to determine the repairs to be made. Each portion of the Cybernetic device is treated as a separate Task. This includes head, limb, body, and brain. Losses due to critical system loss must be repaired following a program similar to that used when repairing a vehicle with a system loss. Once the repair program is laid out, a character with Electrician Skill and an Animatron Repair Kit may proceed on theTask of repair.The Task Value is twice the damage sustained. Task period will be by the day. Besides the time required to perform the task, a repair Task will require a minimum of 2D6 units of parts. A Cybernetic device is Disrepaired when its Damage Resistance Total is exceeded by the damage taken. Then its Structure Rating plus its DRT is exceeded, it is Junked. When its DRT plus twice its Structure Rating is exceeded it is destroyed beyond repair. Desrepaired and Junked units yield parts as the corresponding non-functional vehicles. Reprogramming a cybernetic device is possible, but will be limited to the functions that the device can perform and by its memory capacity. Reprogramming is a Computer Science, Programming Task. The Gamesmaster may assign whatever Task Value he deems appropriate. A value of 5 or 10 per memory unit would be reasonable. Some devices such as Wardroids or security devices would have anti-tamper mechanisms that could do anything ranging from self-destruction to simply requiring a Task, albeit a difficult one, be performed before the character could begin reprogramming. Such a Task would represent breaking the devices security systems and could have a Task Value in the hundreds for a well-protected device.
8.4
Limb: 15 Usually contains sufficient blood to simulate 20 wounds. Surrogate Head: 30 Body: 50 Limb: 20 Often incorporates special equipment specific to its job. Wardroid Head: 50 Body: 80 Limb: 30 IR and light amplification sensors standard. Frequently contains a self-destruct device to prevent capture. 10 15 10 7 9 9
ANIMATRON CRITICAL HIT TABLE

Die Roll
Effect
01-10 No effect 11-20 Daze 21-40 Stun 41 -60 General Efficiency reduction. Attributes reduced by 10% and BCS by 2 Systems loss: 61 -64 Fine Control. Unit must make a Deftness AST to perform any function requiring fine coordination. This includes such things as firing a gun 65-68 Identification. Unit will not recognize normal controllers or deactivation orders 69-72 Logic. Unit effectively acts in a random fashion 73-75 Manipulative. Unit may not manipulate objects 76-77 Motive. Unit is frozen where it is. It may not move on the DAT display or change facing 78-80 Sensory. Units sensory apparatus is destroyed 81-95 Power outage. Unit goes on reserve power or ceases function 96-00 Destructive dysfunction. Unit is junked. A 40% chance of destruction beyond repair
HIGH TECH WEAPONS

There are several potential developments in arms manufacture which are just coming off the drawing boards now, or are still on them in some cases, which the Gamesmaster n a y or may not wish to include in the campaign. Some represent improvements on existing weapons, others totally new concepts in destruction.
LASERS
If a workable ray gun is going to evolve from our present technology, it will be based on the Laser principle. While there are several ways in which Laser action can be simulated, the simplest one we have found posits that the amount of power used to generate the beam, modified by the tightness of the beams collimation, determines the weapons damage potential. Assume Lasers eat power in Charges. If fitted with a power source drawing current, they must recycle between shots until the desired amount of power has built up in a capacitor as Charges. The Lasers base damage potential is 1D10 per Charge. The weapons should be assigned a maximum number of Charges per shot by the Gamesmaster, an upper limit on how much they can pump out at one time. The collimation of the Laser acts as a WDM for this power. It may be fixed or adjustable. Laser fire is handled as if it were a Single Action firearm: 1 Shot per Action is fired, resolving
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the BCS on the middle Action Phase of the firers PCA. The Skill used to aim and fire is the Small Arms Skill appropriate to the form of the Laser gun (it is shaped like a Pistol or a Rifle). But a permanent bonus equal to the users Deftness score is added to the Skill score. If the user has no Firearms Skill, he will still have a BCS derived from his Combative Talent plus his Deftness. Firing Stance does not affect Lasers, as there is no recoil and the beam goes exactly where you point it. Likewise, no bonuses to BCS derive from Brace Weapon, Rest Weapon, or other steadying modifiers. Range with Lasers boils down to Short (10 meters), Medium (100 meters), and Long (over 100 meters). These are qualities of human vision rather than the weapon. The BCS modifiers for Range are +1, +0, and -1 respectively. As there is no BDG, no ballistic modifiers apply as such. A Laser will shed 1 Charge forevery500 metersof distance traveled: out to 500 meters it is at full power; from 500 to 1000, it is down 1 Charge; and so on. Thus, a 3-Charge Laser hasa maximum range of 1500 meters. This is the situation in comparativelyclearair. Light rain or misty air will alter the distance from 500 meters to 100 meters. Heavy rain will knock it down to 50 meters. A Smoke grenade cloud or similar dense smoke concentrations will reduce Laser fire traversing it by a factor of 1 Charge per (10 meters/Smokes rating). A cloud of Smoke rated 1, Le., reducing Light conditions 1 step, will knock 1 Chargeoff of a Laser beam for every 10 meters it travels through the cloud. Smoke rated at 2 will do so for every 5 meters traversed. If the Gamesmaster wishes to introduce Smoke charges specifically designed to limit the effectiveness of Lasers in a battlefield situation, then the Beam will suffer the attrition as given for normal Smoke, but does so if it traverses any fraction of the stipulated distance, instead of only after it has traveled the entire distance. When a Laser hits a flammable material, it will have a chance of igniting it as open flame does. It has a Strength Rating for this purpose equal to the Group derived from its damage potential times the collimation. Use the fire rules in Book 1, page 40. Maintenance, repair, and modification of Laser devices is a function of the averaged Skills of Laser Technology and Electrician. OPTION Laser Trauma The effects of a high-energy Laser beam passing through a human body are pretty gruesome. The heat of the beam will blast the water in the tissues into steam in micro-seconds, causing extensive damage. There is a chance of taking an automatic Critical Hit effect of Trauma to the affected Location. This is a percentage equal to the damage that penetrates the Armor Value on that Location: the actual damage suffered. If the percentage roll indicated Trauma, half the total damage done is the amount of damage taken as Critical Disabling damage. The victim should be permitted a Health AST to resist this effect. Note: Sever effects due to Laser Trauma are cauterized by the beam. Bleeding to death is not possible.
Leather, so her clothes do not catch fire. But as the damage done exceeds three times the Armor Value, the armor o n Location 22 is destroyed. Since Winifred suffered 26 points of damage, she has a 26% chance of suffering Laser Trauma. I f this occurs, her shoulder takes 13 points o f Criticaldamage, which has a flat 13% chance of severing the arm.
SAMPLE LASER WEAPONS U.S. Army XLM-2: Max. Charge per Shot = 2. Collimation = 2.
A Laser pistol loading two E-5 batteries in a clip-type magazine. ENC of .7. DUR of 2.
U.S. Army XLM-3: Max. Charges per Shot = 1. Collimation = 2.

Lighter version of the XLM-2, for riot control and police use. Carries a single E-5 for power, loaded into the handle as in an autoloading Pistol. ENC of .4. DUR of 2.
U.S.
Max. Charges per Shot = 4. Collimation = 3. A Laser rifle drawing power from a backpack-type harness, containing an Ev-50. ENC of 1.2 for the gun and 1.5 for the backpack. DUR of 3.
Army XLMR-4:
Eastlnghome Mining Laser Drill: Max Charges per Shot = 5. Collimation = 1.5. A fixed-mount device, about 2 meters long by 1.5 meters high. The relevant Combat Skill for its use is Direct Fire Cannon. The weapon can draw power from an Ev-50 or from a direct source of current. It contains a capacitor adjustable to complete charging at number of Charges from 1 to 5. DUR of 4.
LAZAB
A special bonded, spray-on material that will takeon any plastic armor or clothing, or a Rigid non-plastic armor. Dispensed in 100-unit sprayers; 1 unit of this materia1,called Lazab (for Laser Ablative), will coat 1 Location on the users person. 1 layer of Lazab will reduce the Collimation of impinging Laser fire by 1. Each such reduction also evaporates the layer. The material functions by subliming intoavaporwhich breaks up the coherent light beam of the Laser. A character treats a plastic breastplate with 3 layers of Lazab. He is later hit on a chest Location by a beam from a Laser with Collimation 2. The Lazab cancels both points of Collimation, leaving 1 layer still on that Location. A subsequent hit on the same Location is also at Collimation 2. 1 factor of this is cancelled, so that the impinging beam has a multiplier of 1 for its damage potential. The Lazab on that Location is now gone. Optionally, the Gamesmaster may simply rate various pieces of treated armor as having a given Lazab factor, ifthe potential bookkeeping problems involved in the spray-on system dismay him. A constant divisor might be a betterway of measuring its protective value in this case, so that complete immunity to Laser fire is never achieved by wearing Lazab with a greater value than most Collimations. Lazab 2 would halve the Collimation, Lazab3 reduce it to 1/3 of its full value, and so on. This saves a good deal of record-keeping. If the Laser still manages to eliminate the Locations armor despite the reductions of the Lazab, then both the ArmQr Value and the Lazab value are gone. Alternatively, an armor material with integral Lazab may have its Armor Value reduced by the Collimation of the hit. If this method is used, the Lazab need not be rated for strength factors.
So Wild Winifred is potted by a Laser-firing sniper on a housetop. The weapon is a 4-Charge Laser Rifle with Collimation of3. That willdo4D10 of base damage with a WDM of 3. Winnie is hit! The Laser pulse sizzles through her shoulder (Location 22) where she is wearing heavy leather (Armor Value of 4). The damage roll scores a 10, with a multiplier of 3 that gives a damage potential o 30. Wild Winifred will take 26 f points of damage from the Laser hit. 30 points of damage gives the fire effect of the Laser a strength group o f 4. That is not twice the Armor Value o f the
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XLMR-4
ELECTROWEAPONS
These are hand-to-hand weapons developed from the cattle prod. The theory is simple: modify a handweapon to deliver an electric shock in connection with a physical blow. Any standard weapon in the Gear section can be found in Electroweapon form. The most common are: Mace, Baton (Club), Sword, Knife, Spear. Military models were in field test when the Ruin struck, for both Electroweapon bayonets and trench knives, although Pentagon sources admited that these were principally intended to improve troop morale, rather than to increase fighting effectiveness. The standard Electroweapon carries an E-5 in its haft or handle. When the shock function is switched on (requiring 1 Action), the weapon will emit a 1-Charge jolt of power whenever it hits a grounded object. The Gamesmaster will have to determine if the object is really grounded or not. If the weapon hits the target (i.e., the BCS is successfully rolled) then the Charge does damage in one of two ways. If the normal damage for the blow penetrates the armor at that Location on the targets body, the 1D10 of electrical damage is added to the damage that penetrated. I f the damage potential was insufficient to penetrate the armor, the electrical damage is rolled separately in an attack upon that armor. This i s defended against by the armor as described under Insulators in the Electrocution rules (p. 37). It is therefore possible for a steel breastplate, Armor Value 9, to completely stop the damage from the sword blow of an Electrosword, but presenting no defense against the electrical current, expose its wearer to the full value of the damage die for shock. Remember that the electrical damage done will be Subdual damage, no matter what kind of damage the weapon does as a physical weapon.
Tasers may be fitted with quick-retrieval systems, which will reel back the harpoon if it is not stuck in somethina, or may require manual rewinding (1 Action/lOm). It takes 1 Action to load the harpoon back into the gun barrel when the wire has been reeled in. Critical Hits add 2D5 to the penetrative force when it hits. Critical Misses are treated as for arrows. A String Breaks result means that the wire has broken. Assume that the wire has about 10 points of resistance to being severed by cutting or breaking in the victims hands if he tries to disable the Taser that way. The relevant Skill for shooting aTaser is the Pistol, Modern Skill, but Average BCS is used due to the lower accuracy of the Taser. Repairing a Taser, or making one, is a Task combining the Gunsmith and Electricial Skills. The Gamesmaster may want to develop larger, more powerful Taser-type weapons for use in special situations. One playtest gimmick that worked rather well was a little servomechanism on a wheeled base that scooted around under tables and behind crates shooting a Taser with a 3Charge jolt behind it.
EXOTIC FIREARM AMMO

Another form of optional high tech weaponry we will discuss are cartridgesmed in small arms to enhance bullet damage or other ballistic factors, or to produce other effects.
SABOT ROUNDS A cartridge case is loaded with a bullet of smaller caliber

than the cases. Surrounding the bullet is a plastic sheath, or sabot. The force of the burning powder can impart a much higher velocity to the lighter bullet, so that it maintains its speed far longer than do ordinary projectiles. Since the velocity is higher, the BDG is not appreciablyaffected bythe use of a smaller slug. Firing a sabot round will have the same effect as the Match Weapons feature: 50% increase in the Range Steps for the weapon. This reflects the lack of BDG loss over longer rounds and the flatter trajectory of the bullet.
TASERS A form of Electroweapon is use today, in limited

circumstances, is the Taser. This is a small air gun, modified to fire a short harpoon, a missile fitted with a barbed point. The harpoon is attached to the gun by a fine wire. Once the weapon has hit thetarget, the firer can pressa stud which will release current into the wire and thus the victim. Specifications for the Taser as it is used in Aftermath! are: Skill Used: Pistol ENC: .5 Single Barrel Range: 25 meters The weapon can be pumped up to firing pressure (5 Task Points required to charge it with enough air pressure to fire once). The reservoir holds 20 Task Points of air at a time. A Strength AST allows the pumper to put Task Points equal to his Effect Die roll into the reservoir and the Task Period is 1 Action. Air guns using Con cartridges can fire 10 shots on one cartridge. A battery case holding an E-5 is attached t o the gun, providing power for the electric effect. The Tasers harpoon is about pencil-sized and barbed. It will hit the target with 1DlOof force, and if it penetrates, it will sink its nasty head into the victim. This only causes 1 point Of actual lethal damage. He must expend an Action to try to pull it out. To do so, he must roll a score on his Strength Effect Die that is higher than the damage done by the dart when it hit him. This will do him another D3 of damage as the barbs tear loose. Meanwhile, once the barb is sticking in the target, all the firer need do is press a button mounted on the battery case. He may continue doing this until he runs out of power or the victim pulls the barb out. If the victim is still holding on to the barb when the Charge is sent, he may take the shock i n his hand.
EXPLOSIVE ROUNDS
The bullets are made of a high-impact-triggered explosive, producing a Blast of 1 for a 1-meter radius. If theshot misses its target, roll for scatter as for a miss with any missile weapon (roll a D6 for direction of scatter) with a distance off target equal to the effective BDG in meters times 1D10. Read a roll of 0 as zero, not ten. If the hit is within 1 meter of a character, he gets the Blast 1 effects. If the bullet hits the target, add 1DlO to the damage roll for the effective BDG. If the bullet is stopped by cover, apply the Blast effect to the cover, as if using explosives in an Unskilled manner. Also, the target will experience the Blast 1 effects if any part of his body is not behind the cover, i.e., if he is not completely behind it.
.75 Double Barrel
INCENDIARY ROUNDS The bullet is packed with a high-temperature incendiary

compound. On impact, it does not do normal bullet damage, but spatters into an small areaof intensely hot fire, which will burn for 1 0 3 Combat Turns.The initial strength group of this fire is 4. Use the fire rules from Book 1.
FLAME WEAPONS
These are the flamethrowers, white phosphorus shells and grenades, napalm bombs, and so on.
FLAMETHROWERS
These are capable of squrting a stream of napalm for a maximum distance of about 100 meters. No Skill directly governs their use, the BCS (if needed) being derived by adding the users Combative Talent and Deftness as ascore. Actually, if you know how to operate it, all that need be done
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is to point the muzzle of the weapon in the general direction of the target and pull the release trigger. Any non-moving target in range can be hit if all you want to do is t o splash the outside. If firing at a small part of the target item (a machine gun slit i n a pillbox, for example), roll the BCS to do so. Against targets in the open, or moving targets, roll the BCS. A miss will scatter. Roll the 0 6 for the direction of scatter and place the end of the spray in that direction at a number of meters equal to the Effect Number of the die roll. Once an area has been hit by the spray, the user can traverse the end of the stream one meter per Action Phase as long as he keeps triggering the flamethrower. He may do this as if moving normally, but is himself limited to a l-meter move per Action while firing. There is no Stance or aiming modifier to consider with the flamethrower. Just point and shoot. The weapon operates like a garden hose. T o fire at more distant targets, you lift the nozzle, and thestream splatters to thegroundfartheraway. Lowerthenozzleand thearcof fluid moves closer to you. Where the stream comes to earth, it will spatter napalm for a radius of 2 meters. The average flamethrower consists of a long, rifle-sized sprayer, attached to a backpack harness holding tanks of napalm and a pressure tank t o push it out. It has sufficient fuel for 10 normal shots, or 20 Action Phases of traversing. 2 phases will consume 1 shots worth. ENC of sprayer is 1.5, of backpack 2.
Weapons using White Phosphorus are:
Hand Grenade: 1 Combat Turn fuse, like explosive

grenades. Scatters phosphorus for 203 meters from point of explosion with a BCS of 12 to hit characters in range. This is subject to Target modifiers for movement and Location rolls are subject to cover.
Mortar Shell: Scatters phosphorus over a radius of 20 meters, with a BCS equal to 1410 hit exposed characters i n
range. Again, target movement will increase CDA against this attack.
Rifle Grenade: Scatters phosphorus to a radius of 10

meters with a BCS of 12. Air Bursts will double the effective radius of the scattering effect, but the phosphorus will not start reaching the ground for 1 full Combat Turn after detonation, at which point the BCS rolls for hits are made. Anyone facing the direction of a White Phosphorus detonation within a range of 50 meters must make a Speed AST to cover his eyes or be blinded by the intense actinic light such weapons give off. If he does not make his roll successfully, he will be blinded for 1010 Combat Turns.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
How much higher can the technology behind a weapon get? The first major assumption to be made is that no matter how you ended the world in your campaign, there are not a lot of strategic nukes left. If you want the characters to find (or at least seek) a legendary last big bomb in a silo somewhere, then fine. But there is really no reason to put them in possession of a city-killer more than once. This leaves us the tactical stuff, including the so-called neutron bomb. Even here, unless you are positing some pretty remarkable weapons research breakthroughs, the smallest delivery system around will be a 105mm howitzer. The Gamesmaster will have to do the research on this subject in terms of delivery systems. Our concern here is the potential destructiveness of nuclear explosives. Even a small nuke will reduce most buildings to rubble for a radius of almost 1 km. It will put out lethal levels of gamma radiation to the same distance, sentencing the unprotected to slow death. For a slightly greater radius, exposed individuals will suffer third degree burns from the heat pulse of the weapon, which is almost certain to bring death within hours at the most. And that is for a 1 kiloton weapon-almost picayune by modern standards. The new Neutron bomb, or Enhanced Radiation, Reduced Blast (ERRB) in polite company, does not, as popular belief would have it, noiselessly emit a blast of radiation which sweeps people down in windrows while leaving buildings intact. I n fact, it puts out blast effects equivalent to that 1 kiloton weapon we described. Lethal radiation, however, is present at out to 3 kilometers! Significant radiation hazards are encountered as far away as 6 or 7 km. Within the primary radation zone, even personnel protected by the heavy steel armor of tanks would suffer serious overdoses of gamma radiation. Unshielded individuals would almost surely suffer a killing dose. The rule of thumb for exposure to a nuclear blast is: within the total destruction area of the blast, there will be no survivors, unless in a hardened site or a tank or othervehicle hardened to withstand the weapons effects. Within an inner radius of thezone (say half its overall radius) there will beno chance of survival. Beyond this, anyone inside substantial coverage (concrete buildings, dugouts, tanks) will ride out the detonation of the device fairly safely. Exposed personnel, however, will suffer casualties out to the full radius of nuclear frightfulness. These are the tactical nukes (with the exception of the 1 megaton warhead, which represents a fairly small strategic
FLAME RIFLE
Functions as does the Flamethrower, but lacks its bulk and its capacity. The maximum range is only about 20 meters, the splash radius where the stream hits the ground is only 1 meter, and the Flame Rifle does not have traverse capability. It has an ENC of 2. No backpack for fuel is needed. Small canisters of pressurized napalm are loaded under the barrel, providing fuel for 5 shots. If a shot misses, check scatter as with the larger weapon. In the event of a Critical Miss, a scatter result with either weapon which shows the stream landing with the firer in range is allowed. Otherwise, such a scatter cannot occur. Roll again for the vector in such a case.
NAPALM
Napalm is the incendiary fuel made for f!amethrowers, flame rifles, and aerial napalm bombs. I t can beextinguished by rolling or smothering, by chemical extinguishers, and in water it will float off the victim if he can immerse himself completely, although if he surfaces into a patch of floating napalm it will cover him again. I f hit by napalm splatter from a flame weapon, the victim is assumed to be fairly evenly covered by the stuff. It will attack his Average Armor Value for purposes of doing damage, and the fire effects on armor are applied to everything he is wearing. At the Gamesmasters option, a Location roll may be made, and that part of the body (limb, torso, or head) is what isattacked by the fire. Napalm has an initial strength Rating of 4 for fire effects, and will burn for 203 Combat Turns before going out on its own, if not extinguished earlier.
WHITE PHOSPHORUS
Powdered white phosphorus burns fiercely once ignited, settling over an area in a fine drift of dust. Roll for the Location hit by exposure to White Phosphorus and apply the effects to the part of the body indicated, as was suggested for napalm. White Phosphorus will burn for 206 Combat Turns or until extinguished. It has an initial Strength Rating of 3 for fire effects, but it increases that figure by 2 for every Combat Turn of burning, instead of by l! White Phosphorus can be extinguished by rolling or smothering, or by chemical extinguishers. Water has no effect on it.
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RANGE EFFECTS O F NUCLEAR WEAPONS Weapon Size

1 kiloton 100 kiloton
1 megaton
Total Destruction
.25 km 1.0 km
4.0 km
Major Destruction
.5km
2.0 km 10 km
3rd Degree Burns .75 km

3.0 km
15 km .6km
2nd Degree Burns

1.5 km 10 km 25 km
1st Degree Burns

2.0 km 15 km
500 REM
200 REM
100
REM
1.0 km
.5 km
1.0 km 10 km 3.0 km
.75 km
2.5 km 20 km
5.0 km 25 km 8.0 km
50 km
1.0 km
ERRB (Neutron)
.2 km
.5 km
.8 km
5.0 km
weapon). Pace off a brisk stroll of about 5 minutes length from the center of your home city. If your starting point is Ground Zero for a 1-kiloton blast, everything you have passed will be either flattened, or a tottering hulk if it is very solidly ccnstructed. The sights you pass in the next 5 minutes will still be standing, but severely weakened. Frame houses will probably still be rubbled. Solid structures probably have had their Structural Stability knocked down to 5 or so. Another five minutes walk brings you to the end of the main heat pulses range. All unprotected individuals you have passed will be dead of extensive third-degree burns in a few hours. The rubble is probably starting to burn. As you can see, there is not a whole lot of purpose in trying to stage a defense against nuclear strikes on an individual character basis. The bomb does not care. The only real game factor that is of general interest in Aftermath! when it comes to nukes is the question of radiation, specifically of lingering contamination. How does that invisible killer work? How can you stop it? Well, actually, you cant stop it. If you are exposed to x amount of radiation, so many REM, then you have such-andsuch a chance of dying. This is (in game terms) boring. Let us assume that areas of radioactive contamination still exist. Some authorities state that they will be with us for centuries; others are equally sure that the effects will become insignificant within a few years. The Gamesmaster should assign a value to such contamination in REM per Hour. When the characters have absorbed a given number of REM, they will contract the appropriate degree of Radiation Poisoning.
Fourth Degree (1000 REM): The same as Third Degree, but the Virulence of the condition if 4, and the Advance is
down the Health: when the effective health is reduced to the current AST, Full Fatigue results. At the CST, delirium. When Health is reduced below 1, Crisis. During every week that a Character avoids further exposure to radiation, his system will purge itself of REM equal to his Health score. A physicians care can increase this figure by the doctors Wit Group Effect Die roll, if daily attention can be given to the case. Roll the Advanced Medical Skill BCS at the end of the week, when the REM purged are calculated. The use of 1 Medikit Unit per day in the week will increase the BCS by 1 and the effective Wit Group by the same. Special drugs are also available which can increase the purge rate if properly administered. If the character can reduce the degree of Radiation Poisoning to First or even down to none between the time of the symptoms described in First Degree Poisoning and the more severe symptoms of higher Degrees, then the advanced forms of the affliction will not manifest themselves. For Gamesmasters who wish to use the device, we end this section with a Neutron Grenade. God only knows how the thing works. It is a Rifle Grenade, 22mm type, available in Ballistitelaunched forms only. It has a Blast of 50 and no Frag. The weapon also generates 1500 REM at the point of detonation. This is reduced by 50 per meter from Ground Zero.
First Degree (200 REM): The character will become Fully

Fatigued and show the Nausea symptom given in Book 1 after a number of hoursequal to his Health Group plus the roll of 1D10. He will remain in this state for a number of hours equal to 30 minus his Health AST. There are no further symptoms.
GASES
Gas weapons may be delivered by hand grenade, 40mm or 22mm grenades from launchers or rifles, artillery shells, or aerial bombs. They range from the ubiquitous but essentially merciful Tear Gas and other riot control substances, to the Nerve Gases (Sarin, VN, and their lethal kin). Any Gas delivery system will be rated for base volume and duration. These terms refer to how much Gas they will put out in a Combat Turn, and how many Combat Turns they will continue to give off Gas. A 5/5Tear Gas Grenade will put out a cloud of Tear Gas to the radius of 5 meters, and will do so for 5 Combat Turns. Each Combat Turn after the first will extend the radius of the Gas by the volume figure, so that after the full 5 Combat Turns, a cloud of gas will extend from the grenade for 25 meters in all directions, wherever space exists for it. Some standard Gas deliver systems are:
0
Second Degree (500 REM): The character evinces First

Degree symptoms as given above. He will than be apparently normal for a number of weeks equal to his Health Group. After this time he will show the next set of symptoms. Hair will be lost, hewill displaythesymptom of Purpura, and he will suffer a lowered white blood cell count, so that any wound can cause infection. He will be in a state of permanent Partial Fatigue, and further stress will Fully Fatigue him. He will remain in this state until he can make a Health AST, rolling daily. He will then recover within a numberof days equal to 6 minus his Health Group.
Third Degree (750 REM): The character evinces the same

symptoms as in Second Degree Radiation Poisoning, but the second onset of the symptoms is accompanied by an Advance up Health. When the Advance reaches the CST, the character is permanently Fully Fatigued. When it reaches the AST, he will become delirious and feverish. At an Advance equal to the Health score, Crisis occurs. The Virulence of the condition is 3.
Police Tear Gas H a n d Grenade: Volume/Duration of 1/10, 2/5,or 5/5
ENC
of
.2,
40mm Launcher Grenade: ENC of .4, Volume/Duration of 3/10 22mm Rifle Grenade: ENC of .8, Volume/Duration of 10/3 105mm Shell: Volume/Duration of 20/3 30 Kilogram Aerial Bomb: Volume/Duration of 50/2
0 0 0
45
NON-LETHAL GASES Tear Gas (C-type)

The mainstay of riot control the world over. The gas will impose 1D10 of non-ignorable Distractions and Partial Blindness on anyone in the cloud area without a gas mask of some kind. It will add 1D10 to the Distractions every Combat Turn of exposure. When the total Distractions are greater than the victims Will score, he will be seized only by the motivation to get out of the cloud. If he cannot make a Will AST, he does not even get to pick the direction of flight, but will charge blindly off in a randomly :olled direction. He will not change direction until he runs into something. A character in the cloud with no protection can resist the first Combat Turn of exposure if he makes a Health AST. He can resist the second Turn if he makes a CST, and if he rolls a 1 on the D20, he can hold out for a third Turn. After that, the Gas takes effect normally. A makeshift mask of wet cloth held or tied over the face will hold off the effects of the Gas for 1D3 Combat Turns.
will contract it. The vesicant action of Mustard Gas acts as an acid on the victim as long as he is in the cloud. It does not attack armor, but will eventually penetrate any clothing or armor not sealed or otherwise treated to resist chemical warfare. It is not impeded by materials rated to protect only against riot control gases. When, in any Combat Turn, the Gas damage for acid attacks exceeds the Average Armor Value of the victim, it will do all further damage directly to thecharacters DRT as Combination Damage (half Lethal and half Subdual). As long as the victim is in the cloud, the acid group of the attack is 5, rolling 2D10 for damage. If the face is unprotected by a gas mask, the Gas will immediately do the Acid Special Effects given in Book 1 on page 49. All vesicant action ceases upon leaving the Gas cloud.
Sarin A Nerve Gas, acting to destroy directly the function of the

victims central nervous system. It can be breathed in, or absorbed through the skin. Personnel not wearing gas masks and protective clothing rated to defend against war gases will be affected. Sarin is both colorless and odorless, being detectable only by devices or chemically treated paper, which turns different colors in its presence. In the first Combat Turn of exposure, all unmasked characters will be affected, and masked characters without protective clothing will resist the Gas with a Health AST, to which their Average Armor Value has been added. On the next Combat Turn of exposure, such characters receive an unaugmented Health AST. On the third Combat Turn, they receive only a CST as a chance of resisting exposure, and on the fourth Combat Turn, only a die roll of 1 will save them. Thereafter, they are exposed. Sarin: A,D-(+)-HLH-1 10 minutes
Retch Gas (CL-type): Acts as Tear Gas, but also causes violent Nausea. It advances up the Health score, immobilizing the victim with cramping heaves and vomiting when that figure is exceeded. The gas advances by 1D6 per Combat Turn of exposure. The victim is subject to the Nausea symptom when the accumulated advance exceeds his Health AST. Mace Gas (CN-type): Also called Pepper Gas. Tear Gas in which the chemical Mace is in suspension. This will expose victims to the effects of Mace (see p. 47) on all unprotected portions of their bodies. Any Location not covered by armor or clothing of some kind is subject to attack. The stuff will penetrate clothing not sealed against Gas after a number of Combat Turns equal to the Average Armor Value of the wearer in any case. It will proceed to affect the body moving inward from the extremities (head, hands, feet) toward the center of the torso. Smoke
Any of the above Gases can be mixed with a Smoke compound. Smoke charges in this application do not act as Narcotic poisons, but only reduce visibility. They have a normal density of 2. Smoke charges also are loaded into Gas systems alone, to provide visual cover for troop movements, defense against lasers, and so on.
to 4 Combat Turns-4-
LETHAL GASES Mustard Gas

Discovered in WWI, this nasty substance is a poison both to breathe and to skin contact. It is not only a chemical poison, but a vesicant or blister gas, acting on unprotected flesh like an Acid. A gas mask is required to withstand the effects of inhaled Mustard Gas. A,(D)-(-)-HLH-1 Combat Turn-31 Combat Turn/l Hour-Lethal Poison The two values for the Cycle represent the values when in the cloud as opposed to those in force once out of the cloud. While exposed to Mustard Gas, or any other poison gas, it is not possible to throw off the effects until out of the cloud, as it just repoisons the victim. The Gas does its damage every Cycle period, with no Saving Throw possible. Due to the vesicant action of Mustard Gas, those who have breathed it face a further danger once the principal effects have been thrown off: pneumonia. The effects of this infection are given later in this section (Germ Warfare). The chance a Mustard Gas Victim will contract the disease is equal to the total Advance of the poisoning down the Health score, before it was thrown off, as a percentage. If the D l 0 0 roll indicates that this has occurred, the character must save as if exposed to the disease, and if he fails his Health AST, he Mustard Gas:
When Advance exceeds Health CST, the victim becomes Fully Fatigued, his vision is affected, reducing his perception of local Light conditions one step (Good to Dim, Dim to Poor, etc.), and severe confusion doubles the characters PCA since he must concentrate harder to accomplish an Action. When the Advance exceeds the Health AST, the previous f conditions persist, and Nausea sets i n along with a loss O voluntary motor control which halves the characters BMA. When the full Health score is exceeded, Crisis occurs as with Lethal Poisons. If the victim is still in the cloud at the end of a Cycle period, there is no chance he will be allowed a Saving Throw to throw off the effects of the Poison. This assumes he is still exposed to the Gas directly, instead of in protective gear. Standard military issue today is Atropine, which acts to negate the effects of Sarin. It is issued in individual syrettes. Injection of Atropine before the end of the first Cycle will cancel the poisons effect entirely. This effect will last for 10 minutes plus the characters Health Group in minutes, should he still be exposed to the Gas. After that, he had best be out of the cloud or in protective gear, because further injections of Atropine will act as a Lethal Poison, I-(-)-HLH-1 Combat Turn-2-5 Combat Turns
PERSISTENCE
OF
GASES
There are two classes of Persistence: Long and Short. Long Persistence Gases will clear from the air in 2D10 + 10 minutes, multiplied by 10, i.e. 120 to 300 minutes. Winds or rain will eliminate the multiplier. The cloud may drift in this period, maintaining its overall shape and dimensions, at a rate of 2D6 kph, in a random direction. Long Persistence Gases are Mustard Gas, C-type and CLtype Tear Gases, and VX, a newer form of Sarin. Short Persistence Gases will dissipate in 2D10 minutes, divided by 5 in the case of high local winds or rain. They are
46
also subject to drift, albeit this is not as vital a factor underthe circumstances. Short Persistence Gases are Mace Gas, Sarin, and T-Gas, a special form of Mustard Gas.
could have been a lab-developed trait or one which occurred via a random mutation after the germs were released.
Anthrax
D or A-(+)-HLH-1 D3 Days-3-2 Days-Lesions. Nausea. Pain. There is also a chance that the disease will cause the loss of facial and head hair. When the disease is cured, roll a Health AST. If it fails, the character is permanently bald. Once this disease has-been overcome, the character is immune to it.
MACE
Mace is not a Gas but an aerosol spray, used in Mace Gas to augment its effects, or from a small spray can as a personal weapon. In this latter form it has an optimum range of 2-3 meters. If the target is at that range, the spray will hit i f the Attacker can roll a Deftness AST. From 4-6 meters, a CST will hit. The Target may use his flat CDA to dodge, receiving no bonuses for movement since the spray covers a wide area. At 1 meter or less, the Attacker must make a Deftness CST just to get the sprayer in position to use. If he succeeds, he also uses a CST to try to hit the target as given out above. A shot of Mace will hit 1 Location on the Targets body. It will automatically penetrate any Flexible non-plastic clothing with an Armor Value of 4 or less. Plastic cloth will be penetrated only if it has an Armor Value of 3 or less. The number of Locations affected by Mace, divided by 2, up, represents a Group. When the Group is increased, roll the Effect Die for that Group. Thisscore represents a number of non-ignorable Distractions that the character will suffer until the Mace wears off. When another increase occurs, roll again. If the new die roll exceeds the highest previous score, that die roll is the number of Distractions in force. I f it is lower than the current number of Distractions, there is no change. A Mace Hit to a Head Location (Locations 1-3) will have more pronounced effects. This is treated as a caseof System Shock. Even if the victim makes his Health CST, to avoid unconsciousness, he will be Partially Blinded until the Mace effects wear off. Any hit to the Head will also increase the current Group of the Mace effects by 1 full point, not half a point, as others do. The protection on these locations must provide facial coverage for Location 2, to defend against the Mace hit. Otherwise, the armor protection described for other Locations applies. The Mace victim may make a Health AST to throw off the effects of the Mace every 5 Combat Turns. Special formulae for persistent Mace exist, requiring longer Cycles (up to 10 minutes). These are generally available only from military or police supplies.
Cholera
G-(0)-None-1 D3 Days-Special-1 Day The victim of Cholera begins dying of thirst as described in Book 2 under Survival. This process continues until he is healed. He will remain at the stage of the dehydration process he reached when he overcame the disease until he makes a Health AST, rolling once per day. He will then be fully recovered. Cholera is generally contracted by drinking impure water, infected with the bacteria of the disease. Boiled water will not carry the disease.
Pneumonic Plague
A--(-)-HLH--PDG Hours-4-2 Hours-Nausea. Weakness. Fainting. Once the disease passes the Health CST in its Advance, the victim will just go into delirium until death or healing takes place.
GENERAL DISEASES
These are likely to reappear in even the healthiest of regions when modern medical science is no longer controlling their spread.
Pneumonia
A-(-)-HLH-1 D3 Hours-3-3 Hours-Pain. Weakness. The victim has a chance of Infection if exposed to any kind of wound while suffering from pneumonia. There is also a much milder form of the disease, with a Virulence of 1 and all the time periods above given in Days, not Hours. This is often called Walking Pneumonia. Victims of exposure or damage to lung tissue can develop the disease without any apparent exposure to a carrier, as most humans carry the pneumococcus dormant in their lungs, ready to become active if the immune system of the victim is weakened.
GERM WARFARE
I f a standard Ruin due to internecine war may be said to exist in the concepts used for Aftermath!, it is that after the major powers divested themselves of nuclear arms, they proceeded to re-arm with biological weapons: germ warfare. The resulting conflict is quite lethal enough to clear the Earth of the requisite population, but leaves the resources available for salvage by the survivors. This is perhapsacoldblooded sort of rationale for using Germ Warfare in your campaign, but it does allow a fairly fast flow of the characters search for survival equipment. The brief list of symptoms given in Book 1 should serve as a model for designing others. The essential nature of a disease (natural or laboratory-bred) is toattack the system of the patient, displaying certain symptomsoutwardly while the bacteria or viruses do their nefarious work. Our coding system for diseases will allow the plotting of the course for any number of conditions, from the common cold to the most lethal plagues. The apocalyptic literature which fuels the concept for Aftermath! is filled with examples of diseases that seem tailor-made for Germ Warfare use, and we will give the specifications for some of these here. Also included in this section are common diseases likely to be suffered in the normal course of daily life in the post-Ruin world.
Rabies
I-(+)-DFT-l D3 + 5 Days-5-1 Day-Rheumatoid condition of arms and legs. Nausea. Pain. Rabies is transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal.
Hepatitis
G or A- (+)-STR-1 Nausea. Dizziness. D3 Days-3-1 Day-Weakness.
MODIFIED DISEASES Diseases show a distressing sameness. If we have mutated

people and animals, we can surely mutate the teeming swarms of bacilli to produce new, mad, exotic plagues. Some of those which strike terror into our playtesters hearts include:
Brain Lighting
A-(-)-WL-2D6 Hours-3-1 Hour. The sufferer will complain of hideous headaches once the Advance has wiped out half his Will score. He will become insane and require restraint if he is not to run madly about at random once the disease has reduced the Attribute below its current CST value.
BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
Strains of disease bred for Germ Warfare. It is assumed that they were mutated to sporulate, go into a form of hibernation, when a host is not present to be infected. This
Eyeburn
I-(+)-WL-1 day-2-1 2 Hours-Dystopia. If the Crisis is not survived, the character is still alive, but
47
his optic nerve has been destroyed, leaving him permanently blinded. The disease is transmitted by the bite or claws of infected animals. It seems to be a mutant form of Rabies, which has become specific to the tissues of the optic nerve. These two examples should put medically-inclined Gamesmasters on the right track toward breeding their own unique compendium of plagues with which to afflict their Players.
The Metpol (Metropolitan Police) Patrolmans Issue Armor

Item Helmet Gorget Flak Jacket Coverall Boots Gloves w/Cuffs Locations Covered 1-2 3 4-12 4-18, 21-28 17-20 29-30 27-28 ENC .048 ,024 ,288 ,046 ,016 Material MP MP LP-MP PH LL LL SY
ARMOR
The kind you wear, not the kind you drive. We have discussed the materials pretty thoroughly in the Equipment rules. However, as far as military and police applications go, personnel will not be outfitted in piecemeal array like the average character is. Integral, standardized suits would be the rule, and when such suits, or certain parts of them, have been assembled, special capabilities will be gained.
,008 ,070
Average AV: 6 Total ENC: ,450 Features: When Helmet and Gorget are worn together, the protection over the Face (Location 2) locks down into the Gorget, forming a gas mask (filter type), effective against most standard gases but not biological contaminants. Plastihide Coverall is specially treated to protect against contact vector irritants, as are Gloves and Boots. Thus, integral suit is a defense against most chemical attacks. The Helmet has a built-in portable communications unit (Com-Link), powered by an E-1. This is the equivalent of a hand-held Police radio. Reception can be switched to oneof three police frequencies. Transmission is by voice-activated throat mike.
POLICE ISSUE
If your campaign assumes, as our test campaigns did, that a time of grievous social disorder preceded the Ruin proper, then metropolitan police units will be outfitted with fairly heavy riot armor by the time the end comes. Light, quicklyassembled suits would be dispensed to normal officers, activated for riot control. SWAT teams and Civil Disorder Units would be issued more durable stuff, since their standard assignments will put them in positions of greater personal danger.
The Metpol SWAT/CDU Issue Armor

Item Helmet Gorget Breastplate Hip Guards Coverall Boots Gloves w/Cuffs Joint Guards Locations Covered 1-2 3 4-9 10-12 4-18, 21-28 17-20 29-30 27-28 15-16, 25-26 ENC .06 .03 .18 ,096 ,046 ,016 ,008 .020 .280 Material DP DP DP LP-MP PH LL LL SY LP-PS
Average AV: 7 Total ENC: ,736 Features: Same as Patrolmans Issue plus optional Ballistic Cloth sheathing for Locations 4-14, looking like a short poncho, strapped to the armor. This garment has a BDG reduction value of 10.
Metpol trooper in Heavy Patrol Gear with Shield and Electrobaton.
Locations Item Covered ENC Material Jumper 4-1 2 .018 px Upper Arm Guards 21-24 ,096 MP Thigh Guards 13-14 ,048 MP Coverall, helmet, gloves are standard Metpol issue.
Patrolman
SWAT Team Member
48
MILITARY ISSUE
The combination of protection and lightness which plastics bring to the field of personal armor may well give us infantryment who look like medieval knights, or at least Cromwellian lronsides. Military troop specialization will be more extensive than police (unless the cities get very hostile before the Ruin hits them). Here, we give the statistics for four of the most common types of armor in modern military issue (circa 2000).
Both versions of the Mark Ill are equipped with Blast Buffering rated at 10 and are issued with a Lazab Factor of 5 on all points of the body. Camouflage coveralls are available as for the Mark I.
Light Reconnaissance Unit Armor (Intruder System) Item

Helmet Gorget Body Armor Hip Protection Fatigues Gauntlets Boots
Locations Covered
1-2 3 4-9 10-12 4-18, 21-28 27-30 17-20
ENC ,072
Material
AP AP DP LP-DP PX LP-DP
Field Infantry Mark I

Item
Helm Torso Protection Hip Guards Arm Harness Leg Harness Boots Joint Guards
.036
,270 ,120 ,460 ,150 ,040
Locations Covered
1-3 4-9 10-12 21-30 13-20 17-20 15-16,25-26
ENC
,108 .18 ,096 .36 ,288 .04 .28
Material
AP DP DP M-MP M-MP
SY
Average AV: 8 Total ENC: 1.158
Features: Convertible flip-up vision units on helmet

faceplate, allowing unaided, Star-Light, or Infra-Red visual scans. Also contains Com-Link, Micropor filter and audioboost aural input units. These increase effective hearing range to about 60 meters in omnidirectional mode, or they may be tuned to a given vector for about 100-meter pickup. Their use makes normal sounds clearly audible at these ranges, and quiet noises are also possible to hear (as Hidden Things). Allows Wit AST when listening for noises through doors, etc., instead of usual Critical Saving Throw. The suits were designed for use by units on scout and sentry duty. Options on certain experimental models released just prior to the Ruin include the Intruder Chameleon, fitted with a switchable camouflage setting. Adjusting the controls caused the specially-treated materials of the suit to assume one of five camouflage patterns: Green, Brown, White, Grey, or Black. Accessories also included anti-biological and chemical oversuits, and a built-in Blast Buffer harness, rated at 5 points of Blast reduction.
SY
LP-PS
Features: Helm contains military issue Corn-Link, powered

by an E-5. Breathing intakes fitted with Micropor Mk.lV antiviral filter, providing protection against aerosol biowar agents. Also resists gas attacks by standard military or police gases. Undersuit available providing protection against contact chemical and biological weapons. Also available is ballistic cloth oversuit, in assorted camouflage patterns (Green, White, Sand, and Grey). Provides 15 points of BDG reduction.
Heavy Infantry Armor Mark llla Item

Helm Articulated Body Unit Articulated Leg Harness Articulated Arm Harness Gauntlets
Locations Covered
1-3 4-1 2 13-20 14-28 29-30
ENC
.12 .48 .32 .20 .08
Material
PS PS PS PS PS
Features: Articulated pieces are gasketed at flex points

(waist, joints). Overlap of rigid material at joints provides equivalent protection to that afforded areas behind solid plate. Due to its construction, the integral unit can be sealed against any form of CBW attack. Suit is potentially multienvironmental, can be equipped with breathing gear (standard Mk.ll UAW unit) capable of providing fresh air supply for 2 hours. Helm equipped with Micropor Mk.lV anti-viral filter and Corn-Link. Flip-down Star-Light filters available for use in reduced visual conditions. All powered systems in suit draw from two E-5 batteries carried in case at hip. At full power, with internal air circulation, Star-Light scope, and Corn-Link operating, suit draws 100 watts. It is thus good for ten hours operation on one set of batteries. The Mark l l l b version of this armor system is provided with an exoskeleton MAMP (Man AMPlification) unit. This provides a 50% increase in effective Strength of personnel. It draws power from an independent power supply, consisting of two E-10 in a backpack. It increases ENC by 1.5 and is rated at 250 watts.
W
Mark I
Mark llla
Intruder
49
MILITARY ANTI-RADIATION PROTECTION

A spray-on protection, much like Lazab. The rating of the protection is 1 per layer applied, to a maximum of 5,and is divided into the REM per hour of exposure in contaminated areas. The coverage breaks down by 1 factor per 100 REM af exposure. Partial coverage has a factor equal to the total number of layers divided by 30. Coverage of 3 layers on Locations 1-10 would not effectively reduce exposure, as 3 layers times 10 Locations is 30, and 30/30= 1. A factor of 1 is not effective. The first layer of such protection acts as a primer, also working to absorb secondary contamination as the shielding breaks down. This substance is usually dispensed in 100-unit aerosols (ENC of .2). This is applied like Lazab.
battery case at the waist designed to hold an E-1. It counts as Heavy Cloth.
Crash Suits
Designed for use by racing drivers, stunt men, etc., these are constructed of a unique material called Rigiplast. Rigiplast is an impact-sensitive plastic, soft and malleable under most circumstances, with an ENC of ,005 per Location covered. But when it is struck with any force, it will become momentarily rigid, presenting an Armor Value of 7. When worn as a suit, Rigiplast acts to provide Blast Buffering with a base value of 5. If only partial coverage is acheived (say by a jacket or trousers), the Blast Buffering is equal to 5 times the number of Locations covered, divided by 30. Round fractions nearest. Crash suits may also be provided with flame protection, as are the Fire Protection Suits.
CIVILIAN ARMOR & HIGH TECH CLOTHES

These spring from one of two sources: armor and other protective coverings developed for workers in high-risk environments and disaster control, and civilian protective garments designed to meet crime in the streets during the grim times of the Pre-Ruin Unrest period.
Rigi-Gloves
Gloves made of Rigiplast are much favored, since they add so appreciably to the impact of blows. Such hand protections will add 1 to the WDM of punches or chops, using any unarmed combat Skill (Brawling or Skilled Unarmed Combat). These are known as karatands.
Fire Protection Suit

The familiar asbestos coverall. Silvered on the outside to reflect heat, and with room inside for self-contained breathing apparatus, the suit will present an effective Armor Value of 10 to Fire and Fire Damage, although its physical Armor Value vs. blows and other damage is only 5.
MEDICINE
As the technological arts of destruction are much advanced, so are the healing disciplines. Wondrous drugs, remarkable devices cooperate with the skills of the physician to offset the hideous damage of wounds, the killing diseases of the Ruin. Even death, if it be not too long in control and the cause of death has left some shell into which life may flow again. Here we give some samples of the medicinal arts that flourished before the Ruin. As with much of our material it includes things known to us now, sometimes without any real change in how the device operates. Other entries here are developments that may be seen occurring in modern medicine, some laudable, some not. We will posit that they were brought to fruition before the end came.
Antl-Radiation Suit
For use by disaster workers or plant workers in radioactively contaminated areas. A simple air filter keeps radioactive particles out of the wearers lungs, so no breathing apparatus is needed. The exposure to local radioactivity is cut by 100% when the suit is at full efficiency (Le., never before used). This protection is degraded by 5% per 100 REM of exposure taken by the suit. In a 500-REMper-Hour area of contamination, the suit will be reduced 5% in efficiency every .2 hours, or 12 minutes. It will be down to 75% after the first hour, 50% after the second, and completely useless after a total of four hours. Its wearer will be exposed to increasing dosages of radiactivity as his protection erodes. Rips or tears in the suit negate is effect by 5% per Location torn. Used-up suits are at best n o good and should be discarded. They have a high likelihood of being contaminated themselves (say 10-60 REM per hour) and should not be handled over-much. They are Armor Value 5 vs. normal damage.
INJECTORS
We have stated that the advances in packaging will permit drugs to be preserved without degeneration for an indefinite period. The forms of such materials will be in pills for some drugs, but mainly we envision them in single-dose, disposable syrettes. Pre-loaded with the proper dosage, sterilized and ready to inject when the cap protecting the needle is removed, these little plastic hypos weigh a mere .01 ENC. The needle can penetrate non-Rigid armors with an Armor Value of 4 or less. Any Location of the body may be used to inject the subject, unless the specific description of the drug states otherwise.
Civilian CBW Suit

A Civil Defense unit. A large coverall with hood, made of light plastic. It has a small air tank of spun fiberglass, holding 30 minutes of air. The suit protects against any CBW agent as long as it remains sealed. It is designed to be used once and destroyed. Its Armor Value is 2.
Street Suits
Plastex (PX, Armor Value 6) coveralls worn by the inhabitants of urban areas with high crime rates. Deluxe models incorporated Ballistic Cloth intothetorso (Locations 4-12). They often came equipped with hoods of quilted Plastex, with Armor Value 7, covering Locations 1-2. Gas masks were also part of the suit, or its optional accessories. Street Suits were often decorated in garish patterns, both in obediance to the dictates of fashion, and in an attempt to deny the grim necessities that forced the wearing of armor in ones own city.
DRUGS
Polycellulac-3
Heals 2D10 of Lethal Damage per dose. Must be administered within 10 minutes of suffering the damage. The drugs action accelerates the normal healing systems of the body tremendously. As a result, the Healing Rate is reduced by 1 per dose. When the Healing Rate is0, further doses will have no effect. The lost Healing Rate is restored at 1 point per day. Note that the characters Shock Factor will be reduced while his Healing Rate is reduced.
Electro-Thermal Sporting Clothes

The ultimate in winter-weather protection. A suit of thermal underwear including socks, wired to maintain even warmth in the iciest of conditions. It will operate for ten hours continuously with 1 Charge of battery power, and has a
Polycellulac-4
Same as Polycellulac-3 but this formula is not subject to the time limits regarding when the damage was received. It will act upon any Lethal Damage currently in the patients system.
Neo-Heroin
A very potent pain-killer. Reduces the effects of being wounded. I f the damage total taken exceeds 50% of the DRT, the patient has no penalties for this state; he is effectively unwounded. If over 75% of the DRT, he suffers only the penalty for being over 50%. If his damage total exceeds his DRT by less than his Healing Rate, he is not comatose, which would be normal, but suffers the penalties for wounds past 75% of the DRT. Damage exceeding the kill point is still fatal, or incapacitating in the case of Subdual Damage. The patients Shock Factor is increased under the influence of Neo-Heroin, by 5. The drug is addictive. For every dose taken, a Health AST must be made, or the user will pick up a habit. It requires72 hours of cold turkey from the drug to kick the habit. After an addicts last dose wears off, he will be unaffected for hours equal to his Health AST. He will become Partially Fatigued after that, until the time in hours since the last doseequals his Health score. He will then become Fully Fatigued. He must roll a Health AST and Will AST at this point (or rather, the Gamesmaster should roll for him). If he fails the first roll, he will collapse, delirious, after a number of hours equal to the Health Group Effect Die roll. If he makes the Health AST but fails the Will AST, he will retain consciousness but will do anything to get another shot of the drug during the remainder of the 72-hour detoxification period. The Gamesmaster may dictate his actions, or let the Player control them if he can be trusted to play the addicts desperate craving properly. We would remind readers that a junkie undergoing withdrawal is not entirely sane. He will undertake any course, no matter how slim its chance of success, that seems likely to get him that next shot. A dose of Neo-Heroin will last for 203 hours. During that time, it controls the wound effects as stated. When it wears off, all wounds will revert to normal effects.
Panomycin
A broad-band antibiotic. 1 Dose allows +1 to any Saving Throws the patient attempts against any form of disease. 1 Dose per Saving Throw attempt is allowed.
OPTION Superior Broad-Band Antibiotics

The Gamesmaster may introduce more powerful, general remedies into his campaigns pharmacopeia. Assign a value of 2D3 to such drugs, which otherwise operate as does Panomycin. Alternatively, massive Panomycin treatment can fill this function, two Doses acting to give +1 to the base value of the first Dose. Thus, 3 Doses give +2 to the Saving Throw in question, 5 doses give +3, and so on.
Tailored Antibiotic
There is, theoretically, one of these for every disease the Gamesmaster has put in the Campaign. The antibiotic has a formula written exactly as is the formula for the disease. If used in a different case (i.e., for another disease) it will still give a bonus to the Saving Throw as does Panomycin, with a +1 for every element in its formula that matches the coding of the disease it is fighting. An injection of the tailored antibiotic that exactly matches the disease code is the same thing as making the relevant Saving Throw. It cures the disease.
HDAP (Hyper-dexamylophet)
A powerful amphetamine. Reduces fatigue by 1 step. I f the patient is not currently Fatigued, it will add 2D5 to Deftness and Speed. When the drug wears off (2D6 hours later), the patient will be Fully Fatigued until he has slept for 24 hours minus his Health AST. If another Dose is taken while under the influence of HDAP or in the Fully Fatigued state that follows its use, a Health CST is needed if the drug is to have its usual effect. Failure means that the patients system will not accept more HDAP at that time, and will not do so until he has slept for the specified period. A Critical Failure will cause collapse for 2D10 hours. HDAP is addictive, exactly as is Neo-Heroin. This is for convenience. The detoxification period for the amphetamines is much more drawn-out than that of heroin. If the Gamesmaster is interested, there is a glut of data available in modern books on the effects of drugs.
Cardiacine
An extremely powerful cardiac stimulator. Can restore the heartbeat in the newly dead. The body must be intact enough to support life: no severs, no enormous holes in the guts, etc. The Gamesmaster is the final arbiter on this point. The injection must be made directly into the heart (i.e., Location 6 must be used to inject) within 3 minutes of death. Only one shot is allowed. The patient is permitted a Health CST when injected. I f he makes it, hewill have0 DRT, and be comatose but alive. If he fails to make it, he does not revive, and is dead.
8-Gamma-PCP-Ill
Derived from the notorious drug PCP (angel dust or KW in modern slang). It was developed by the Army in experiments seeking a drug to increase the effectiveness of the infantryman in combat. Strength, Deftness, and Speed are all increased by So%, although the Strength bonusdoes not increasethe DRT. The Shock Factor is increased by 10. Wounds are resisted as when under the influence of Neo-Heroin. The effect lasts 3D3 hours. In stress (combat, hostile activities, personal danger, pain, etc.) the victim/user must make a Will AST to control himself (one such roll at theonset ofthesituation isenough, unlessit is very drawn out, in which case the Gamesmaster may choose to require subsequent re-rolls). If he fails, he will go berserk, attacking any apparent threat in his vicinity, including armed or violent-looking members of his own party. He will not break off a fight until his opponent is obviously dead, and he will try to kill with no regard for other factors. I n this state, the user will double the Effect Die rolls for such things as breaking restraints, great leaps, etc. He will be absolutely fearless, but will view any opposition to his ideas as a direct attack. He is immune to Fatigue. When the drug wears off, the user must make an immediate Health AST, as well as checking for any results of losing his drug-given powers (wounds, pain, fatigue, etc.). I f he fails to make the roll, he will undergoamental flashback2D12 hours later, lasting for 10-60 minutes. His mental attitudes will be the same as in the berserk state, but he will have none of the
OPTION Brain Damage

This is a gruesome but accurate element of any simulation of non-magical resurrection. If the Cardiacine is not injected within 5 Combat Turns of death, the patient will start to lose Wit and Will points. These losses are permanent. The character can still gain in these Attributes, but his maximum possible score is reduced from 40 by the number of points lost due to oxygen starvation while his heart was stopped. If the injection is given 6-10 Combat Turns after death, 1D3 of Wit and Will are lost. From 11-15 Combat Turns after the heart stopped, 1D6 is lost in addition. From 16-20,l D10 more is lost. During the period 21-30 Combat Turns after heart activity stopped, a further 1D20 is lost. After30 Combat Turns, it is irrelevant, as the 3-minute limit is up. If the current Wit or Will score is reduced to 0 or less, the physical revivification of the patient i f still possible, but not really desirable, as he wili be a permanent vegetable, brain activity wiped out by oxygen starvation.
Syrefie
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physical advantages of the drug. After this spell ends, he must roll the Health AST again, repeating the flashback process over and over until the Saving Throw succeeds.
that the reflexes and muscles are adapted by the injection as well as the brain cells. Temporary Doses of the drug will endure for one week.
Anagathon
The pinnacle of medical research before the Ruin. The drug reverses the degenerative effects of age over 40 years. This is not a single-dose operation. A graded series of injections of various components of Anagathon are required over an unbroken period of one month. The full set of syrettes has an ENC of .5. Each such regimen cancels 2D3 of the effective age as far as the losses of physical Attributes go. As the effective age is lowered past the3-yearlbreak points the reductions suffered due to age are restored. The patient may not exert himself during this period, his food and water requirements are doubled, and there must be no more than three days at a time lost between treatment days or the process breaks down.
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
Beside the wonder drugs listed, the equipment and resources available to the physician in Aftermath! can spell the difference between life and death for his patients.
Defibrillator I f the physician has this device (1.2 ENC, operating from
the charge in an E-10) he may use it in lieu of Cardiacine, subject to the same restrictions. The defibrillator is a small valise, and if you do not recognize the name, it is used to administer an electric shock to restart a heartbeat. The defibrillator consumes 1Charge per use. The patients chest (Locations 4-7) must be exposed, and the device itself open and turned on (1 Action to get it ready). Upon applying the Charge, the physician must make an Advanced Medical Skill BCS. If hesucceeds, the patient may make the Health CST as with Cardiacine. Unlike Cardiacine use, the defibrillator may be used more than once, until:
1. The physician makes a Critical Miss in his BCS roll.
CPC (Catabolic Potential Catalyst)

This is a drug discovered earlier in the research that produced Anagathon. Following a regimen similar to that described for the other druq will extend the Characters prime by 1 0 3 years. In other words, after a l-month CPC protocol, the Character will not start aging as is usual until he is 43, instead of 40. A maximum 5-year extension can be maintained at one time. If the prime has been extended to 45 years, no further treatment will have a result until the patient is at least 41.
2. The patient makes a Critical Miss in his Health CST.
3. Brain death ensues (3 minutes after heart action stops). 4. No more power is available.
NOTE: Neither of the above drugs restoreor extend youthful

looks. The patients still look aged, though hearty, after treatment. It is the effect on muscle, bone, and neural tissues that is combatted, not wrinkles, graying hair, and so on.
Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) A technique, not a drug or device. I t uses pressure from external massage over the heart (Location 6) to keep it pumping when it has ceased to do so on its own. It is part of
the knowledge conferred by Advanced Medical Skill. The Location must not be in Semi-Rigid or Rigid armor, and the Armor Value may nor exceed the physicians Strength Group in any case. T o apply CPR, a BCS roll in Advanced Medical Skill must be made. Success will keep the heart beating for a number of Combat Turns equal t o the physicians Deftness Group Effect Die roll, after which a second BCS roll is needed. Each subsequent BCS attempt receives a cumulative penalty of -1. That is, for the second roll, a -1, for the third a -2, and so on. This applies for any character attempting to make the roll, and reflects the patients worsening condition. When a BCS roll is not made, then the patient will not respond to further CPR. While CPR is being applied successfully, the clock is stopped on the results of heart inactivity. The effects of oxygen starvation do not advance past the stage they had reached when CPR was started. This can buy valuable time while preparing Cardiacine or a defibrillator. Of course, applying CPR requires the continuous attention of the physician. He may attend to nothing else while performing this technique on a patient. At the Gamesmasters option, a Critical Hit when rolling the BCS for CPR results will permit the patient to make a Health CST. I f it succeeds, heart activity will start up again.
Anarad
A chemical compound of the versene series, operating to flush radioactive ions from tissues of the human body. A Dose of Anarad is a series of graded injections, used daily over the course of a week. It increases the rate at which REM are purged from the body by 20. A full set is .25 ENC.
Antl-REM
An injection which helps the body resist external levels of high radiation. Rated from 1 to 5, a Dose of Anti-REM will cause the actual REM rating of the environment to be multiplied by a factor equal to (10-Drug Ratirlg)/lO. A shot of Anti-REM 1 will cause only 9090 of impinging radiation to be absorbed. Anti-REM 5 halves the effects of radioactive exposure. One Dose will last for 48 hours. Multiple Doses may be used to add up the effects, as in taking two Doses of AntiREM 1 to get the effect of Anti-REM 2, but the maximum protection the drug can afford is a rating of 5. Further Doses have no effect.
Memory RNA
Doses are rated from 1-10, This represents a BCS in some Skill. When the Dose takes effect, the character acquires the specified BCS in the Skill. If he already possesses the Skill, the figure is a bonus to his current BCS. If not, it is his total BCS in the Skill. Alternatively, the drug may be rated with a Skill and a score (01-30,51-75, etc.). Ifthe character does not have that score in the Skill, he will acquire it. He cannot use it unless he possesses a total score from 1 to the lowest point to be acquired. Thus, the data acquired from a Dose of Memory RNA for Driving Skill, 51-80, is useless to the character until he gains a score of his own up to 50. The former type is suitable for RNA Doses designed t o act as temporary boosts to knowledge, the latter for permanent implants of knowledge. It is not advisable for very physical Skills to be included in those available from Memory RNA, although some fictional treatments of the subject use them this way. The premise is
Electric Cautery/Knife
Uses electrical current to cut or cauterize tissues. In surgical applications gives a +2 to the Advanced Medical BCS and to the patients saving throws if any are used to avoid bad reactions to surgery. If used to cauterize Severed wounds, to prevent bleeding, the patient need not roll the Health AST to survive. It does put him into shock, but the tissue damage is more controlled, and unlikely to kill the victim. The device is about the size of a soldering iron, attached to a control pack which can be powered off an E-10 or Hvy. Household Current. It is rated at 2500 watts (that will consume .05 Charges per Combat Turn when operating on battery).
Inflatable Splints
Plastic bags, inflatable in 10 Actions, which can be fitted
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around a broken limb before being blown up, like big balloons, to immobilize broken limbs. We will posit that the current models have been improved by the time of the Ruin to allow a character with a limb immobilized to moveas if the limb were merely disabled. The splints come in three formats: arm, leg, and torso. A deflated splint folds down into a packet with ENC of .05.
Encephalographic Educator
A large and intricate computer and equipment complex capable of inscribing a permanent range of Skill score onto the memory of a character over a course of days (1 Skill point can be transmitted per hour). The maximum daily session is a number of hours equal to the sum of the Wit, Will, and Health Groups. It is a very large unit, non-portable, requiring a Lt. Industrial Line of at least 22 kilowatts rating tooperate. It can instruct only one subject at a time, since it must beattuned to that individuals brain-wave pattern, a process requiring a 20-point Task by a Computer Science user. The Task Period is one day.
TACTICAL BATTLES AND LARGE-SCALE COMBATS

In the course of a campaign, the Gamesmaster may come to a situation which calls for combat but is too large to handle with the basic man-to-man rules. That is when this section will become useful. This system is deliberately designed as a shorthand form. No great details are given and a characters individual actions are lost in the overview. The principal advantage of using this system is thequick resolution of combat situations beyond the scope of small man-to-man battles. The basic rule is that two die rolls are compared and the difference is the basic loss to the strength rating of the sides involved. This is modified by the results of the application of the appropriate Skill by the commander. If the battle represents a fight with only about 20 men on a side, the appropriate Skill is Tactics. Larger battles use Operational Command Skill and the clash of whole armies over the course of a military campaign uses Strategic Command Skill. On each Battle Turn, 1D6 will be rolled for each side. This is the Battle Determination roll. The side with the higher modified roll is considered to be Winning This Turn. The lower modified roll is considered to be Losing This Turn. If the modified rolls are equal, the turn is Deadlocked. On a Turn when one side is reduced below 1 TSP, the side(s) which has (have) a TSP less that 1 is (are) considered to have Lost the Battle. The other side, if there is one, is considered to be Victorious. The commander of each side (in some circumstances this may be a Player Character) will make a BCS roll on the appropriate Command Skill. A critical success will add the characters Wit Group to the D6 rolled for the Battle Turn results. A critical failure will subtract the opposing commanders Wit Group from the result of the failing characters Battle Determination roll, and the opposing side in considered to have made the Command BCS roll for purposes of Loss modification to the side with the Critical Miss. These die rolls will be used to modify the effects of the Battle Turn determination. These steps are repeated until the battle is resolved or halted.
THE COURSE OF A BATTLE

Each side in a battle is rated for Troop Strength Points (TSP). This is an abstract number representing the combat capability of the side. Each Battle Turn represents about an hour. The battle will continue until one side is reduced to zero or less Troop Strength Points, one side retreats from battle, or prevailing conditions force an end to current hostilities.
MODIFICATIONS TO THE DIE ROLL

The Battle Determination die roll is modified for several things. The result of the 1D6 roll is modified to get the number which will becompared to the modified die roll result
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for the other side to determine the winner of that BattleTurn. These modifications are:
Superior Numbers: The side with superior numbers may

add to the die roll result. The TSP of the stronger side is divided by the TSP of the weaker and rounded down. This gives a superiority factor which is referenced on this chart t o get the add to the die roll.
Superiority Factor
1 or less
Die Roll Modification

+O
2 3
+1
+2
4 5 or more
+3
+4
Critical results of the commanders die roll Retreat (see below): The side conducting the Retreat receives a -1. Rout (see below): The side suffering from a Rout receives
a -2.
When one of these cirkurnstances arises, the Gamesmaster will check t o see if the sides morale will fail. The base percentage chance that it will fail is equal to 100 minus thesides current TSP total divided by the originalTSP total, rounded nearest. This can be modified by another Command BCS roll made by the commander. This is called the Rally Roll. A successful Rally Roll will subtract2 times the Effect Number from t h e percentage chance. An unsuccessful Roll will add 2 times the Effect Number to the percentage chance of morale failure. If a sides morale fails, that side will conduct a Retreat on the next Battle Turn. A critical failure when rolling on the morale check (a die roll in the 96-100 range) or a critical failure on the Rally Roll means that the side will Rout on the next Battle Turn. If a morale check is called for during a Retreat, the Retreat immediately becomes a Rout.
ENDING A BATTLE
A battle is ended when one side loses all its TSP points, Retreats, Routs, or Surrenders. A Battle may also end by mutual consent of the commanders. The latter case is usually due to such things as the fall of night (Command BCSs receive a -10 at night), adverse weather conditions (a variable modifier to the Command BCS), advent of a new force into the Battle (particularly if neither side knows if it is friendly), or any other circumstance that the Gamesmaster feels is sufficient cause.
Other: At the Gamesmasters discretion he may apply

other modifiers as he feels represent the situation.
RESULTS OF THE BATTLE DETER MI NAT 1 N 0

Once both die roll results are modified, the smaller will be subtracted from the larger. The result is the Base Loss of Troop Strength Points for that Battle Turn. If both modified die rolls are equal, the Base Loss is 1. The modification to the Base Loss is found on the Loss Modification Chart below. All numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number. In a Deadlock, only a critical success with the Command BCS will cut the Loss to one-quarter and thus, rounded down, to nothing. A critical failure will increase the Loss to2. In all other Deadlock situations, each side will suffer a 1 TSP Loss. The modified Base Loss for a side is the number of Troop Strength Points which are subtracted from that sides total TSP.
A Retreat may be called at any time by the commander or forced on a side by the fortunes of war. Once it is determined that a Retreat will occur, that side will participate in one more BattleTurn. On thisTurn, that side will receive a -1 modification to its Determination die roll. After this turn, the Battle is ended. The other side (neither side if both Retreat) is left in possession of the field. The Retreating side is treated as Losing that Turn even i f it has the higher modified Battle Determination roll. It is not treated as if it had Lost the Battle.
A Rout will occur with a severe morale failure. The Routing side will participate in one more Battle Turn unless already in Retreat. It receives a -2 to its Battle Determination roll. It is treated as Losing that Turn even if it has the higher modified Determination result. It has lost the Battle.
A Surrender will occur when the commander of the opposing side accepts the offer of the side wishing to Surrender. No further Battle Turns are conducted.
MORALE FAILURE
A side in a Tactical Battle will have to check for its morale in one of three circumstances.
rn Loss in one Battle Turn exceeds 25% of the sides original
TSP total. *The character making the Command BCS rolls (the commander) is killed or incapacitated. .The commander has a critical failure on his Command BCS roll.
STRENGTH DETERMINATIONS
If a Custom Army is not in use, one side will have itsTroop Strength Points determined by rolling 2D6 and adding 10.
LOSS MODIFICATION CHART

Side With Higher Modified Battle Determination Roll
Winner of Battle Turn Made Command BCS Loser of Battle Turn Made Command BCS Both Sides Made Command BCS Neither Side Made Command BCS 1/4 Base Loss 1/2 Base Loss 1/4 Base Loss 1/2 Base Loss
Side With Lower Modified Battle Determination Roll

Base Loss 1/2 Base Loss 1/2 Base Loss Base Loss
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The other sides TSP may be determined in the same way, or the Gamesmaster may roll on the Reaction Table (Book 1, Appendix 1) and multiply the Value Number by 10%. This percentage will be added to 100% to determine what percentage of the TSP of the first side is the TSP of the second. Thus, a Value Number of -1 multiplied by 10% for -lo%, indicates that the second side has 100% + (-10%) or 90% of the strength of the first side. If the first side has a TSP of 15, the second side has 90% of 15 or a TSP of 13.5, or 14, since the value is rounded to the nearest. The second method is advised for creating an army to face a Custom Army, unless the opposing army is also a Custom Army. Shay commands an army with thestrength of 15 TSP and his opponent, Thomas, has an army of 14 TSP. Neither receives advantage for being significantly stronger that the other at this point. Shays Operational Command BCS is 12 and Thomass is 14. On the first Battle Turn, Shay rolls a 3 for the Determination roll and a 5 for his BCS. Thomas rolls a 3 and a 1 respectively. The Battle is Deadlocked. Each 9 side loses 1 TSP. Their new strengths are Shay 14 and Thomas 13. On the second Battle Turn, Shay rolls a 1 and a 2, while Thomas rolls a 6 and a 6. Thomass side is Winning this Turn. The Base Loss is 5. Shay, with the lower Determination result and a successful Command BCS, will actually lose one-half of the Base since Thomas also made his BCS. This is a Loss of 2.5 rounded to 3 for a new TSP of 1 1 . Thomass Loss is one-quarter of the Base of 514 = 1.25 rounded to 1, giving him a new TSP strength of 1 1 . On the third Battle Turn, Shay rolls a 4 and a 20, while Thomas rolls a 4 and a 17. Neither has made his Command BCS and Shay has Critically Missed. Thomass Wit Group is 2, so this is the modification to Shays Battle Determination result. I f Shay had not Critically Missed o n his Command BCS, the Battle would have been Deadlocked. As i t is, his side has Lost that Turn and the Base Loss is 4 - ( 4 - 2 ) = 4 - 2 = 2. As far as Shays side is concerned, Thomass side has had a successful Command BCS roll, even though this is not the case. Shays side will thus take the Base Loss. Thomass side, since neither made the Command BCS and they Won the Turn, will take half the Base Loss or 1 . The new strengths are Shay 9 and Thomas 10. But Shay has critically failed on his Command BCS roll and his side must check for morale failure. His current strength is 9. This divided b y his original strength of 15 and subtracted from 10Oohyields a base percentage chance of 40 for morale failure. Shay fails his Rally Roll with a die roll of 17. Two times the Effect Number of 5 gives an additional 10% chance of failure for a total 50% chance of morale failure. The die roll is 33, indicating that Shays side has had a morale failure. i t will conduct a Retreat on the next Battle Turn. On the fourth Battle Turn, Shay rolls a 5 and another 20, while Thomas rolls a 3 and a 10. Shays modified Determination result is 3 instead of the 4 i t would have been due to the Retreat, since he has once again Critically Missed. This immediately ,turns his Retreat into a Rout which has a -2 modifier to the Determination result. For Thomass Side, this makes the Battle Turn a Deadlock resulting in a Base Loss of 1 which will reduce his TSP to 9; but Shays side takes double that to reduce his sides strength to 7 TSP. Ths Battle is over since Shays side Routed. Thomas has been Victorious and Shay has Lost the Battle o n this Battle Turn. Thomass side is left in possession of the field.
MILITARY CAMPAIGNS
In the course of a game campaign, one or more military campaigns may be waged. The simplest and fastest way to resolve a military campaign is to total all the Troop Strength points available to each side and treat the entire military campaign as if it were a single Battle. The appropriate Command Skill for this would be Strategic Command. A more interesting way to deal with it is to treat the military campaign as a series of battles. This requires the Gamesmaster to make a number of decisions with regard to available supplies and facilities for transporting them, continuing morale modifications, positional Battles, reengagements, and other such details as apply to military campaigns. The rules presented in this section are provided as a guideline for this sort of thing. In a military campaign, a commander may have a large number of Troop Strength Points available to him. These probably will not be all in the same location. An armys TSP will be classed as Ready and Unready. If used in a Battle, Unready TSP are at one-third of their value, rounded down. Thus, it requires 3 Unready TSP to equal 1 Ready TSP. All TSP, on both sides, are Unready at the end of a Battle. The rate at which they may.be made Ready will vary by how the side fared in the last Battle in which the particular TSP was engaged. A Victorious army may check for Battle-Ready TSP each day after the Battle. A successful Operational Command BCS roll will allow a number of TSP equal to the commanders Wit Group Effect Die roll to be Readied. Failure results in no additional TSP being Readied. Critical success adds 1 Group to the commanders effective Wit Group and critical failure means that the commander may not make a roll on the following day (in addition to none being Readied that day).
0
An army which has Retreated from Battle may Ready TSP in a similar fashion but the commanders effective Wit Group is reduced by 1. An army which has Routed from Battle will roll for readying TSP once in a number of days equal t o 5 minus the commanders Wit Group. Otherwise they are treated as if they had Retreated. An army reduced to zero TSP has no forces to Ready.
After a Battle some of the TSP losses will be returned to a commanders control. These are the recovered wounded, the units which just lost cohesion but were not destroyed, and a small pool of reinforcements. One the first day after a Battle, the side will receive 25% of the TSP lost. This number is rounded down. At the end of the week following the Battle, another 25% will be received. At the end of the month, a further 10% will be received. All of these TSP are Unready. Thus, Thomas, the victor from the example of Tactical Combat, had a total TSP Loss of 5. Twenty-five percent of that is 1.25, rounded to 1 , and 10% is .5,rounded to 0. At the end of the day following the Battle, he will receive back 1 Unready TSP. At the end of the week following the Battle, Thomas will receive 1 more Unready TSP. He will not receive any more TSP from that Battle at the end o f a month. On the day after the Battle, he will ready a numberof TSP equal to his Wit Group Effect Die roll. He makes his Operational Command BCS with a die roll of 9.His Wit Group Effect Die is 1D6 and his roll is a 3. He will have 3 of his 9 TSP Ready and will add 1 TSP to his Unready TSP due to after-Battle recovery, giving hrm a force breakdown of 3 Ready TSP and 7 Unready TSP. On the next day, his BCS roll I S a 17, so he will no: ready any troops that day.
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On the third day, he makes his BCS with a die roll of 12. His Effect Die roll is a 5. His total force is now 8 Ready and 2 Unready TSP. On the fourth day, he again makes his Operational Command BCS (with a 4), and his Effect Die roll is a 6. That is more than enough, so his remaining 2 Unready TSP are now Ready.
LOGISTICS
If the Gamesmaster desires, he may assign an upper limit to the number of Unready TSP that may be made into Ready
TSP during a campaign. This is the simplest way of representing the resources available to a side. Alternatively, a side may be given an upper limit which represents the stockpiled resources and a rate of production which will raise that limit. This allows planning of campaign strategy to eliminate stockpiles, resource centers, and production facilities.
ARMY MOVEMENT
An army, represented by even 1 TSP, has a base marching allowance of 8 kilometers a day. Vehicle-borne TSP have a base of 20 kilometers per day. This is used in Tactical Scale travel as a characters Speed is used. For purposes of using Forced March, an army has a pseudo-DRT of 20. The reductions in Attributes called for by fatigue represent the percent of the total TSP that become Unready. If they are already Unready, one-half of the number called for are actually lost. A completely Unready army may not use Forced March. Thomas of the previous example decides to move out before he has readied all his TSP. He leaves on the third day with 3 Ready and 7 Unready TSP. He travels with Forced March until he accumulates 16 subdual points. This would reduce a characters Deftness and Speed to 50%. Thus, 50% of Thomass army is made Unready. f i f t y percent of his total of 10 is5. His3 Ready TSP become Unready but he must still account for 2 more TSP. Since the rest are Unready, he will lose onehalf o f the unaccounted-for TSP, or 112 of 2 = 1. Thomass army has been reduced to 9 TSP and all are Unready.
Each unit will have three values calculated for it. A Defensive TSP, an Offensive TSP, and an Offensive TSP with Ammo are required. The last is used o n any Battle Turn for which the unit is supplied; the second is used when the unit runs out of ammunition, or if the unit is only armed with hand-to-hand weapons. However, only one is used for calculating the comparative strengths for the Battle Turn. Each units appropriate Offensive TSP is added to that of the other units on its side and rounded to the nearest to get the sides effective TSP for that BattleTurn.This is subject to Position benefits. When Losses are taken by a Custom Army, they are applied at random to individual units. The Gamesmaster will assign each unit a number and roll a die with a range as large as the highest assigned number. If no die is available with a convenient range and a flat (equal probability for each number) curve, he will pick the next largest range with a flat curve and roll until he gets a number in the correct range. The number rolled will be the unit to first take damage. If the TSP indicated to be lost is greater than the Defensive TSP of the unit, the unit is destroyed and the excess points are applied to another unit determined at random. I f a unit is only partially destroyed by Losses, the percentage of the units Defensive TSP lost is the percentage of its Offensive TSP that will be lost for subsequent Battle Turns. When assessing Losses for a Custom Army, do not round off the Loss. Fractional values can be significant to a Custom Army, which will often have TSP values to two decimal places. Player characters i n a Custom Army take the usual chances of Battle but add their available Offensive TSP into the total for that side.
CALCULATING VALUES FOR A CUSTOM ARMY

In order to determine the TSP for a unit of aCustom Army, its value must be assessed. Unready units have 1/3 the normal values. The value of the unit in each category (Offensive, Offensive with Ammo and Defensive) will be divided by a number chosen by the Gamesmaster to yield values in a convenient range for play. Divisors of 5, 10, or 20 will not affect the scale of Battle Turns. Increasing the divisor by a power of 10 (50, 100, 200 respectively) will double ammunition expenditures and the time taken by a Battle Turn. Values for each unit are calculated separately and rounded to the nearest hundredth when the conversion to TSP is made. A units Defensive value is equal to the Average Armor Value of a man in the unit times theTraining Rating times the number of men in the unit. A crew-served weapon works the same way. A vehicle has a Defensive rating equal to its Vehicle Armor Value converted to regular Armor Value (Le., multiplied by 10). If the vehicle is currently suffering a reduction in maximum speed due to reduced Durability, this same reduction is applied to its Defensive value. A units Offensive value is equal to its Defensive value, if infantry. A crew-served weapon has no Offensive rating but that of its crew (to be used when the ammunition is gone). A vehicle has an Offensive value equal to its Structural Rating times the crews Training rating when it carries no weapons or is out of ammunition. A units Offensive Value with Ammo only applies to units which use firearms. For these units, the value of a single weapon is added to the base value. For infantry the Average AV of a man is added to the value for the weapon being used, at the rate being used, and the result is multiplied by the Training Rating. For crew-served weapons, the BDG of the weapon is the base. If a full crew is not present, the base is
POSITIONAL BATTLES
When one side is attacking another which is holding a given position, the defending side will be given additional TSP representing the advaritage of the position. This additional TSP should be kept separate from the defending sides normal TSP. When Losses are assessed, one-half of the actual Loss will be assessed against the defenders normal TSPand one-half against the positions TSP. Fractions are rounded in the usual fashion for the defender but are retained for the position. Fractional position TSP are treated as having the Strength of the next-higher whole number. Thus, a positional TSP reduced to 5.5 still functions as if it were 6. Once the positions TSP has been eliminated, the Battle proceeds in the normal fashion.
CUSTOM ARMIES
This section gives guidelines for evaluating a force composed of disparate elements. It is of greatest use when a character acquires sufficient forces to require combat to be resolved on a Tactical Battle scale. Each Custom Army will be composed of units. Each units is a separate entity. A unit of a Custom Army is made up of all the men of one Training Category who are armed and armored alike. A unit may also be a combat vehicle or a crew-served weapon.
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CUSTOM ARMY VALUES

Gun Action Black Powder SA, DA, SS,PA AL, SB FA Machine Gun Artillery Value 1 Rounds per Battle Turn 5 Weapon Ratings Weapon Type Value Hand-to-hand Bow Crossbow Firearm Artillery 0 Pound Pull x .05 Pound Pull x .02 BDG of 1 round x .1 x Gun Action Value VDG x O/O of qualified crew active arms, is assigned a number of rounds expended in a Battle Turn. If a character using a firearm is to get the value of that firearm, he must havesufficient rounds to match the required expenditure. If insufficient rounds are available, the Offensive Value without ammunition will be used. A character able to use a slower rate of fire with his weapon may do so. but he will only receive the Value for the Gun Action firing with the lesser ammunition expenditure. Training Ratings Training Category Green (untrained) Novice Trained VeteranIElite Player Character/Heroic Value Multiplier
2
5 10 15
20
50 100
x .25 x .5
x l x 1.5
1000
20
x2
reduced to the percentage of the crew which is present before being multiplied by the Training Rating. Vehicles work the same way except that the Defensive value is added to the base value for all weapons able to be brought to bear before being multiplied by the Training Rating of the crew. Reversing the calculations at the end of a Battle will indicate how many survivors there are in a unit. If a partial man is indicated, assume he is wounded. If a partial vehicle is indicated, determine the percentage damage and treat it asa percentage Durability loss. Ammunition supply is dealt with on a rudimentary scale. Each Gun Action or class of weapon, if larger than small
EXAMPLE OF A CUSTOM ARMY

J. Caldwell has assembled an army. He commands 25 Trained soldiers.in AverageA V 8 , 5 0 Green troops in Average AV 6, another 50 Green troops in Average AV5, one Heavy Machine Gun with a crew of 2 (full Offensive
same same same -
lnfantry
Trained Riflemen Green Riflemen
Defensive (1 man)
Offensive with Ammo

firing 30-06 a t BDG 26, A L ((26 x . 1 x 5 ) + 8 ) x 1 = 21 firing same as veterans (((26 x . 1 x 5 ) + 6 ) x .25 = 4.75 none firing .223 a t BDG 20, FA ((20 x .1 x 10) + 10) x 2 = 60 firing .45 ACP a t BDG 11, AL ( ( 7 7 x .I x 5 ) + 10)x 2 = 31
( 8 1~ = 8 )
(6 x .25) = 1.5 (5 x .25) = 1.25
Other lnfantry Caldwell (first 6 Turns)

(7th Turn) (after 7th Turn)
as men: (8 x 1 ) = 8
(10 x 2 ) = 20
none ((27 X . 1 x 15) +8) x 1 = 48.5
Heavy Machine Gun with full crew firing 7.62 NATO at BDG 27 Tank with 50% crew firing 105mm gun (no MG) at VDG 56 and Vehicle AV 10, speed reuction 10%
(10 x 10) x 90% = 90
(5x1)=5
((5oo/o0f56) + 90) X 1
118
This results in Caldwells army having units with TSP values listed below. The Gamesmaster decided to divide by 20.
Unit
Defensive Value (TSP)

200 ( 10 ) 75 (3.75) 62.5 (3.13) 16 (.8)
Offensive (TSP)
200 (10 ) 75 (3.75) 62.5 (3.13) 16 (3) 5 (.25)
Offensive with Ammo (TSP)

525 (26.25) 237.5 (11.88)
#1 Trained Rifles
(25 men) #2 Green Rifles (50 men)
#3 Green lnfantry (50 men)

#4 HMG crew ( 2 men) #5 Tank plus Caldwell Turns 1-6 Turn 7 After Turn 7
90 (4.5)
60 ( 3 ) 118 (5.9) 60 ( 3 ) 31 (1.55)
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crew), and a Tank mounting a 105mm gun, with 50% crew. The HMG and tank crews are Trained. The first two units of infantry are armed with M-1 Garand SemiAutomatic rifles and the third has only Hand-to-hand weapons. Caldwell himself is a Player Character, has an Average A V of 10, and is armed with an M-16 Assault Rifle and a .45 automatic. He has stockpiled enough ammunition for two Battle Turns for the riflemen and the tank, four turns for the HMG, and 6 Turns for himself with the M-16 and 1 with the pistol. This means 7500 rounds ((50 + 25) X 50 X 2 ) for the M - l s , 40 rounds (1 x 20 x 2 ) for the tank, 4000 rounds (1 x 1000 x 4) for the HMG, 600 rounds (since he will be using his M-16 at Full Automatic) for the M-16, and 50 rounds for the .45. The Battle engaged i n by Caldwell's army is presented only in terms of Losses to demonstrate the procedure for dealing with them and their effects o n the offensive ability of the army. O n the first Turn, the army generates the maximum Offensive value since all units with firearms have ammunition. This gives a TSP of 53.14 rounded to 53. The army is slated to take a Loss of 1 TSP. The Gamesmaster rolls 1D5 with a result of 4, which indicates the HMG crew. The Defensive TSP of that unit is .8. It is destroyed and its Offensive value will not be counted for the rest of the Battle. This still leaves .2 TSP to be assessed against Caldwell's army. The Gamesmaster rolls his die again and this time it indicates Unit 1. The Defensive value of this unit is reduced by .2 TSP to 9.8. This is 98% of its original value, so its Offensive value o n the next Battle Turn will be at 98% of its value, that is, 98% of 26.25 or 25.73. On the next Battle Turn, Caldwell's Offensive capability is reduced significantly by the loss of the HMG crew. His new total is 49.62, rounded to 50. O n this Turn, the army takes n o Losses. Even though his army took no Losses o n the last Battle Turn, Caldwell's Offensive power is reduced greatly because his riflemen and tank are out of ammunition. His total Offensive TSP is now 19.93 or20. This is a loss of more than half of his Offensive Capability. Unfortunately for Caldwell, his enemies' ammunition supplies were greater and he finds his Offensive capability outstripped significantly. His opponent thus gets an additive modification to his Battle Determination result which permits him to inflict great casualties o n Caldwell's army. The Loss is8 TSP. The unit taking the casualties is indicated as No. 2. They are annihilated and 4.75 TSP are still to be allocated. The next unit indicated is No. 3. They also are annihilated, and 1.62 TSP are still to be allocated. The next unit indicated is No.5, which has its Defensive TSP reduced to 2.88. This loss is greater than 25% of his original Defensive TSP, so the army is subject to a morale check. It fails and will Retreat on the next Battle Turn. Miraculously, Caldwell's army escapes without further casualties.
Veteran, they will be raised only on a die roll of 1 on the Operational Command roll used to Ready them. If the TSP value to be raised to Ready status was beyond what it would take to raise the unit so elevated in status category, the excess may not be used on another unit. Ammunition resupply of units in a Custom Army is handled separately from getting them Ready for Battleagain. Such resupply problems are campaign dependent and, as such, are in the province of the individual Gamesmaster. Caldwell's total Losses in TSP were 9 TSP. Twentyfive percent of that is 2.25 and ten percent is .9. O n the day after the Battle, his army receives 2.25 TSP randomly assigned to Unit 1. Their Loss was only .2 TSP, so they are back to full strength. The still unallocated TSP would normally be rolled for randomly, but Caldwell has only one other surviving unit, which is Unit 5, the tank. Its TSP loss was 1.62, which is replaced, leaving .43 still to be allocated. The lost units are eligible. The die roll indicates Unit 4, the HMG crew. This is over half the TSP. The machinegun itself is lost since the opponent holds the field of Battle. Making a color call, the Gamesmaster describes this result as the machine-gunner staggering into camp, dragging his wounded loader. Caldwell decides to Ready his Trained Riflemen first. His Operational Command roll is a 1. His Wit Group is raised by 1 to its normal value (he was effectively lowered 1 Group due to the Retreat) and the die roll is l D l 0 with a result of 6. Six TSP of Caldwell's Trained Riflemen are now Veterans and are Ready for Battle. If only they had ammunition! What has happened is that a new unit has effectively been created, since the Training Classification of the Unit 1 riflemen has been split. O n the next day Caldwell continues to Ready more of his Unit 1 riflemen. His die roll is a success, but not critically so. He uses his normal Wit Group for the Effect Die, which is 1D6. His roll is a 2. Two TSP worth of Trained Riflemen are now Ready. This still leaves 2 TSP of Unit 1 Unready. Unfortunately for Caldwell's ambitions, his former opponent catches u p with him on the third day. Unsupplied, his men still showing the effects of the previous Battle, Caldwell surrenders. He n o longer has to worry about Readying the rest of his army.
CHARACTERS IN A TACTICAL BATTLE

Characters may participate in a large-scale combat. Their fates, though related to that of the side on which they are fighting, are determined in a different way than that of the whole army. Each character should have his Offensive Value assessed if a Custom Army is in use. If the Gamesmaster feels that this will involve too much work he may dispense with the calculations but should still charge the characters for ammunition expended in the battle. This should be done for the rate at which the character normally fires when in combat. If no normal pattern is established, assume the highest rate possible. T h e calculated Offensive value for the characters is added to the total of the side on which they fight. If a randomly-generated army is in use, the characters' offensive capabilities are ignored, although they are still assessed for ammunition expenditure. For each Battle T u r n , a character must choose a level of participation. A character may change from one level to the next between Battle Turns. He may not change more than one level at once. That is, he may not go from Courageous to Hanging Back or vice versa in oneTurn. He must first spend a Battle T u r n at Average level of participation.
CUSTOM ARMIES AFTER THE BATTLE

Like regular armies, a Custom Army will regainTSP aftera Battle. These will be apportioned randomly among the units of the army. A unit annihilated in the Battle cannot receive any of these replacement TSPs until all units which survived the Battle are brought u p to the strength they were at before the Battle. T h e Defensive TSP is used. Once a unit is made Ready after a Battle, the men in it will have their Training Classification raised to the next higher category if they are Green or Novice. If they are Trair?ed or
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The levels of participation are cross-indexed with the Battle Determination result for a Turn to find the probabilities character being wounded acquiring loot, or modifying his chance for recognition at the end of the Battle. These levels are:
CRITICAL BATTLE RESULTS Die Roll Result 01-30 No special result

31-60 Character must make Health AST or treat as 6190 below 61-90 Character is rendered unconscious for 1D3 Battle Turns. When he is conscious again, if the Battle is still continuing, his level of participation will be determined randomly for that first Turn. He may adjust it on the next Turn. If the Battle has ended and the enemy holds the field, he will be captured. If his side holds the field, he will be subject to normal After-Battle results. 91-00 Damage taken is critical damage. Roll Hit Location for results. The character will experience a Trauma Critical Effect (see page 30 in Book 1). If Location 2 was indicated, also treat as a Critical Acid Effect (see page 49 in Book 1). If the Wounds roll was a 20, the character will receive medical care that will heal l D l O of the damage accumulated so far. I f the character has First Aid Skill, he may apply it to himself and any other characters in a unit with him during the time between Battle Turns. Any character with a Bandage may apply it to himself. If the Wounds die roll was a 1, the character may receive a Critical Battle Result. A DlOO is rolled and the damage received that Turn is added to the result. The modified D100 roll is checked on the chart above. Characters may add a number equal to one-half of the percentage of their total DRT accounted for by wounds to the After-Battle die roll.
Courageous: The character is in the forefront of the

Battle. This is a dangerous position but tends to have a positive effect on the character's being recognized by the commanders of a Victorious army.
Average: The character does not seek out glory or

withhold himself from the conflict. He takes the normal, not inconsiderable, risks of battle.
Hanging Back The character does his best to avoid the

thick of the fighting. Although safer than the other two levels of participation, participating in this fashion may well bring a character to the attention of his commanders in a very unflattering way.
BATTLE RESULTS FOR CHARACTERS

On each BattleTurn, the Gamesmasterwill ask the players what level of participation their characters will be at during the Turn about to happen. Their decisions are recorded and the Battle Turn is conducted. When theGamesmaster knows the status of the side on which the characters are participating, he can cross-index each character's level of participation with the status of the army for that Turn to get the die rolls to be used for determining how the character fared in that Turn. Three letters will be found on the chart: W, L, and R. Each will be followed by a number. The letter indicates the category of fortune. W is for Wounds, L is for Loot, and R is for Recognition. The numbers represent a modified BCS which, when compared with the roll of 1D20, will determine an Effect Number. Each category is rolled for separately. The Effect Number generated is a base number for that area. This may be multiplied by a factor representing the intensity or danger inherent to the circumstances. Specifics will vary by the category.
Loot: The character will maintain a running total of the

results for this category. A successful roll will result in the Effect Number, as modified by the correct factor, being added to his total. An unsuccessful roll will result in the modified Effect Number being subtracted from his total. A negative result at the end of the Battle means that no loot was gained. A positive result is the Barter Point value of the Loot
Wounds: Only if the die roll is less than the number

indicated will the character receive wounds on that Battle Turn. The Effect Number of a successful roll is multiplied by the factor for an army with the appropriate status to give the number of points of lethal damage taken by the character on that Battle Turn. This may kill the character.
FORTUNES OF WAR TABLE Victorious Courageous

w:9 L:16 R:30 w:7 L:l8 R:20 w:5 L:20 R:10 .5 3 1
Winning That Turn

W:ll L:12 R:25 w:9 L:14 R:15 w:7 L:16 R:5 1
2 1
Deadlock
W:l3 L:8 R:20 W:ll L:10 R:10 w:9 L:12 R:O
1
Losing That Turn

W:15* L:4 R:15 W:13* L:6 R:5 W:ll* L:8 R:-5 1 1 2 1 1.5
Lost
W:l7' L:O R:10 W:15' L:2 R:O W:ll* L:4 R:-10 1.5 1 3 .5 2
Average
Hanging Back Modifying Factors Wounds Loot, successful roll unsuccessful roll Recognition, successful roll unsuccessful roll
1.5 1.5 1 1
2 1.5 .5 1 The amount of damage taken that Turn is the percent chance that the character has been captured. All captives of a totally defeated army (TSP reduced to zero) or a Routed army are freed.
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gained. The Gamesmaster may wish to handle this as ammunition for whatever firearm the character was using. If the character had no firearm, the Loot may still be represented as easily-bartered ammunition.
Recognition: Recognition is calculated as Loot and a running total is kept. The result at the end of the Battle is
the modification which will be made to the characters After-Battle ReactionRoll. Since officers are not supposed to throw their lives away, the Gamesmaster may wish to modify the Recognition BCS for characters functioning in that capacity. This modification is to the BCS indicated for Recognition. Some suggested values are: +5 Sergeant equivalent LieutenanVCaptain equivalent Major/Colonel equivalent General equivalent +10 +15
+20
AFTER-BATTLE RESULTS
There are no hard-and-fast rules to follow when dealing with the results of a Battle, but some guidelines can be presented. The Gamesmaster may make a Reaction Roll for each character. This is modified by the characters Recognition total. The purpose of this roll is to get the evaluation of the characters performance in the eyes of his superiors. The Gamesmaster knows the results of the Battle and the characters actions in it. Using this, he should decide whether a character should be castigated or congratulated. The coward in a Victorious army is often ignored, whileeven the brave man in a defeated army may face hard times. The Gamesmaster should also modify the results for player character officers. A defeat is harder on the officer corps than on the soldiers in terms of the wrath it brings from an armys superiors and/or sponsors. In general, a negative result may only bring a reprimand and a fine, or it may be serious enough t o have the character brought up on charges of cowardice which could result in an execution. Player Characters should be allowed a chance for a jailbreak t o avoid such unpleasant side-effects. This can provide material for a gaming session. A good result may earn the character a commendation, a medal, or a reward in the form of more pay. A very good result may cause the character to be promoted or t o receive an exceptional reward. In any case, the characters should be rewarded or punished according to their actions and the Gamesmasters view of how those actions fit in with the situation. The nature of the army is also important. A Gamesmasters shrewdest judgements can be called for in these situations.
Sal has gotten herself involved in a Battle. On the first Battle Turn, she decides to be Average and theside she is on Wins that Turn. The 1020 rolls for each area are 6, 18,and 19.She receives3 points of Lethal damage (9 6 = 3 x 1 = 3). She starts with a negative Loot total of 4 (1 18 = -4x 1 = -4)and a negative Recognition total of 4 4 (15 19 = -4 x 1 = -4). On the next turn, she opts to be Courageous. This and 14. time, her side is in a Deadlock. The rolls are 1,9, She takes 12 more points of Lethal damage and is subject to Critical Battle Results. Her Loot total now stands at -6 (8-9 = -1 x 1.5 = -1.5rounded to -2 and raising the loss to -6).She does, however, garner 6 points of Recognition which eliminates the earlier negative total and leaves her with a positive total of 2. For the Critical Battle Results, she rolls 1 D5 and adds 12 to the die roll. The result is a die roll Of 25 modified to 37. She fails her Health AST and is rendered unconscious for 103 Battle Turns. The die result is 2. For Battle Turns 3 and 4,Sal is unconsious. She will participate in Battle Turn5 but her level of participation is determined at random. It is determined to be Hanging Back. This indicates that the tide of battle has moved away from where she had been knocked unconscious. The die roll results are made once the Battle Determination is made. The side is Victorious on that Turn. Sal has no chance to move to the forefront of the Battle again. The die results are 20, 11, and 12. The 20 indicates that she is healed for lDl0 points of damage. The die roll here is a 6. She is still carrying 9 points of damage. She has gained a base amount of 9 Loot points which is multiplied by 3 for a result of 29 points; added to her previous negative total of 6, this leaves her with a net of21 Loot points. Her Recognition roll gives a base loss of 2 points multiplied by .5 for a net loss of 1, leaving her final total at 1 Recognition point. Since her side won, there will definitely be an AfterBattle Reaction Roll. She receives a modification of +1 for her Recognition total and +14 for her wounds (total damage received was 15 points, which is37.5 or38% of her 40 points of DRT; divided by 2 and rounded nearest this gives 14). This is a total modification of +15.The result Qf lDl00 is 57 modified to 72. This is a Good result. Being a mercenary, she has her base pay multiplied by the Value Number for that reaction, which is a positive 2. The Gamesmaster decides that this reaction also entitles her to priority medical care, resulting in good, restful facilities and a doctors care until she is healed. For Loot she receives 21 Barter Points worth of ammunition. Had her Loot total remained negative, she would have received no Loot.
THE CHANGED
This is a brief outlineof the mutationsof human stock to be encountered in Aftermath! Primary consideration is given to the basic forms of alteration in the first five generations or so, although some comments will be made on potentials for development in later generations. structures and tough hide in place of normal human skin. Gamesmaster or Player may wish to work out a highly-visible image of this latter mutation (scales, or a wrinkled, elephant hide appearance). The Tough receives the following abilities.
0
PHYSICAL MUTATIONS
These are Changed features which act upon the physical senses, the Attributes, and other features of physiological and neural configurations, having effect upon the mind, body, and senses of the mutant but not significantlyallowing him to act upon the exterior world. Unless otherwise specified, Physical Mutations are always working, although some applications require specific calls to that effect by a PIaye r.
Generate a number from, say, the roll of 2D2. This will be used in all the following operations. It is called the Resistance Number.
.The Toughs skin has an inherent Armor Value equal to the Resistance Number. This figure is added to the Armor Value of whatever armor he is wearing over a given Location.
0
STRONGS
Strongs add 10 to their Strength (i.e., they effectively go up a Group). Gamesmasters Option: allow Strongs to train to 50 in Strength, as opposed to 40. For a more normal version, allow a score greater than 40 in a Changed Attribute only if the initial Permanent score reached such a figure. If points are lost due to healable Attribute damage, allow healing back to Permanent Value. I f points are lost due to re-trainable damage, sllow training back to Permanent Value. Strongs also suffer losses i n other Attributes, proportionately based on their gains in Strength. Gamesmaster and Player may exercise options:
0 0 0
Increase the Toughs Shock Factor by the Resistance Number. In addition, the period of time the Tough is unconscious due to Shock will bereduced by anumberof Combat Turns equal to the Resistance Number.
.Add the Resistance number to all STs against succumbing to physical damage effects such as being winded, knocked out by a sandbag effect, stunned by falls, and so on. .The Tough will not die, if knocked below 0 in his DRT, until the total damage below 0 is greater than his Healing Rate plus Resistance Number. Interesting options with this mutation might include tying the Resistance Number into the Power Rolls discussed under Psionics later on. The Resistance Number equals the Toughs Power Group. Thus, the changes start in early adolescence and continue into young adulthood. Outward manifestations of the mutation would be less noticeable for those with low Resistance Numbers, but as such factors as inherent AV increase, thecoarsening of skin, the roughening of voice as cartilage in the throat thickens, the stiffening of joints as bone cells increase in density, will mark him for a Changed One. Penalties to abilities of Toughs are potentially numerous and the Gamesmaster should balance their severity with the levels of superiority gined by the mutant. Some possibilities i ncl ued: Reduce all BCS and Saving Throws based on sensitivity of touch or lightness of movement by the Resistance Number. The heavy bones and thick, insensitive skin do not do much for such operations.
0
Reduce Deftness and Speed by 5 each Reduce Wit by 10 (or amount of Strength increase) Allow Player to rob Peter to pay Paul. He may increase Strength by transferring points from Attributes at a rate designated by the Gamesmaster (e.g., boost Strength by3 points per 2 points reduced in Deftness)
In any case, the principal effect of being a Strong is going to be based on hormonal balance altered by the mutagens in the post-Ruin environment. This will cause increased production of usable heavy muscle tissue, but will tend to reduce movility and flexibility (Deftness and Speed) or mentation (Wit and Will). The options given above are to permit tailoring the character to an image pleasing to Player and Gamesmaster.
QUICKS
Quicks receive enhancements to Deftness and Speed in the same way that Strongs get enhanced Strength. They may have a boost in only one of these Attributes or in both. Penalties are levied against them as with Strongs, but are probably targeted at Strength and Health. This is based on the image of their mutation as an increase in the basal metabolic rate, permitting greater reflex speed and muscle firing at a cost in the storage of protein as muscle and the general ability of the system to maintain homeostasis, reflected by Health reductions. Other requirements based on this image could include doubled requirements for rations by the Quick, as well as player design of habits and quirks that non-Quick humans are likely to find highly irritating.
Obviously, the Tough is no beauty. Figure this into the Changed Ones interactions with people, especially ones with no love for mutants.
0 T h e Tough could easily lose Speed and Deftness comparable with the Strong, by some number based on Resistance. A 1:l ratio is certainly possible. There are other options, too numerous to analyze in detail. The Gamesmaster is free to work out details with players, as well as to design his own variants.
IMMUNES
I mmunes have systems which responded to the bacterial fury of germ warfare by developing tremendous resistance to subtler forms of injury than the Toughs. They also have a Resistance Number,but it acts as follows.
TOUGHS
Toughs resist physical damage in a gross anatomical sense. Possessed of metabolisms which fiercely resist certain forms of injury, they also have heavier skeletal
Add to Saving Throws versus all forms of drugs and poisons.
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At the Gamesmasters option, lmmunes can be assumed to be totally immune to all forms of disease, or to have a chance equal to 10% x Resistance Number that their systems will eliminate a disease during incubation, with the Resistance Number added to Saving Throws in the event that it does not. Also at the Gamesmasters option, transfusions of Immune blood could act for the recipient in the same way as for the donor. Some interesting scenario possibilities arise that way. As to the penalties for immunes, they must fail their Health Saving Throw for beneficial drugs to work on them, and i f the Gamesmaster feels that it is called for, their systems can oppose any medical care with a Health roll (a CST if drugs are involved). A bandage, of course, would not be resisted, and most forms of first aid are probably not a problem, but the use of medkit units, Pathology Skill care, etc.. might be read as an attack by the hyper-active immunoresponse system of the Immune.
SMARTS
AS you might guess, Smarts have increased Mental Attributes. If theonly form of the mutation is a flat add t o Wit and Will, there is no reason to penalize them in any other area. Such a change is certainly in homo sapienss main evolutionary stream, and increased power of mentation in itself will not affect the biological balance as extremely as the more overt mutations do. However, we can also posit the super-minds among the Changed, even though we are not yet speaking of the psionically gifted ones, who whould suffer some offsetting penalty to preserve game balance. A case can be made that this increased mental ability will adversely affect physical development. For such advanced Smarts, the abilities gained could be: *Hidden Thing detection by AST rather than CST .For Knowledges at least, a gain of the Initial Score in the Skill every time a full month is spent on the subject. This might not apply to Skills having a strongly physical side, as abstract theory is less important than reflex training and exercise. The Gamesmaster must apply his own view of hermeneutics to the question. a N o limit to Freely Improvable Skills aAllowed intuitions (hints from the Gamesmaster) on making a Wit CST, allowed once in a given situation In either type of mutation, the Smart will enjoy an increase of around 10 in Wit and Will, and in the case of SuperSmarts should suffer reductions in proportion of a// Physical Attributes (say 5 apiece). The nice thing about Super-smarts is that they present a new thought process as the mutation, without necessarily requiring a measurable increase in brain-power. This is a truer kind of change than a straight jump in IQ.
by ionization of air by radioactives or, in the presence of strong IR sources, see as if a visible light were present. The power is probably not strong enough in itself toallow seeing things by IR signature alone. The receptive form of the mutation operates in a different way. The Changed has catlike eyes, capable of seeing clearly by low starlight levels. In game terms, the Eye in this form receives n o penalty when operating in light levels lower than Good. However, in Good light (defined as ranging from a well-lit room on up to bright sunlight) the Eye is totally blind! To function in this environment, he requires sung lasses or similar protection, and when wearing such, his vision is on a par with normal human capability. Strictly speaking, total darkness should be impenetrable to the receptive Eye as much as to the human norm. However, a mutant with both receptive and perceptive forms of the mutation will be able to operate in total darkness as well as near-total. Rapid changes in brightness will be crippling to the Eye. If he is dumped from bright light to dim, of course, he need only remove his shades. Exposure to sudden light (turning on the switch in a dark room, flashbulbs, flares, etc.) will impact his visual centers so harshly that a Will AST is needed to prevent being Dazed (as by a Critical Hit) for the next 1D3 minutes. Even if it is made, he will be in a blinded state for that period after being protected from the glare (by closing his eyes, donning shades, getting out of the light, etc.). If an Eye is exposed to such attacks, all relevant Saving Throws for avoiding their effects are halved. If an attack does succeed, then the procedures above are applied.
EARS: Ears have enhanced hearing. This also occurs in perceptive and receptive forms. The perceptive Ear has a range of hearing covering a wider frequency response than the normal human (3015000 hertz or so). This would enable them to hear such things as ultrasonic alarm triggers (such as are used in many modern anti-intruder systems), the distant pulse of turbines, or the sound of sonic sensors, and to penetrate white noise sound masking, hearing around the masking frequency. There is no particular penalty involved in this form of the mutation alone. The receptive form of the mutation increases the sensitivity of hearing as if all input were amplified many times. Normal human hearing has a lower threshold of 2db; the receptive Ear has one much lower. On the other hand, the human threshold of pain is around 80db, with damage to neural tissue starting at 100. The Ear is much more vulnerable. It is difficult to list all the things that can endanger the Ear. Any loud noise above the level of a human shout will at least tend to distract him. We must let a few common examples serve. Gunfire: Outside, any report within 10 meters will impose Distractions (ringing head) fora period of time. Pistols and small-caliber Rifles do 1D6 of such effect, larger weapons (including some of the big pistols like the Magnums) 1D10. Distraction lastsforafull Combat Turn of firing at least. Thereafter, the Ear may spend an Action trying to get his nerves under control. A Will AST does so on the first try and a second Action will always succeed i f the first fails. Indoors, if in any enclosed space up to the size of a large auditorium with gunfire, the Ear is exposed to this attack. If he is within the 10-meter range, double all effects of the noise. Explosions: If close enough to be attacked by the blast (i.e., Concussion) the sound will knock the Ear out unless he makes a Will CST. Otherwise, if the
SENSERS
These are mutations enhancing the physical senses and the neural structures devoted to their interpretation. Do not confuse them with the ESP abilities described under Psionics. Basically, Senser abilities can run in two directions: increased power of reception (i.e., response to lower threshold of stimulation than normal) or increased range of perception (e.g., seeing farther into the spectrum, hearing higher or lower frequencies, etc.). The latter is a lesser form of the mutation and less prone to compensating penalties. EYES: Eyes have an enhanced visual sense. In the perceptive form of the mutation, the Eye can see slightly farther into the ultraviolet and infrared than normal. Thus, he can perceive such phenomena as the U V aura caused
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Gamesmaster judges him to be in range (and that can be up to a kilometer) he must still make a Will AST or pass out. If he saves, he is Dazed for i D 3 minutes. Continuous Sound A loud stereo can be annoying to normal ears. T o an Ear, it can be maddening. The bombardment by constant loud sounds will have a value set by the Gamesmaster at, for example, 1D3 for a phonograph, 2D3 for a loud PA system, 2D6 for feedback over a powerful amp and speakers, a flat 15 or 20 for a stamping mill, etc. In each CombatTurn where the Ear is trying to do anything, he must roll a Will AST or operate under the specified Distractions. I f he makes a CST range, he has transcended the noise and receives no penalty. If he makes AST only, he is under half the Distractions (round up). If he fails, he cannot even move except at half his BMA. At the Gamesmasters option, he may try to react to the environment if the Distraction level is less than his Will Group, but at large penalties. Constant exposure to very loud sounds will act like explosions, attacking the Ear on every Combat Turn of exposure until he passes out. Ears can protect themselves in one of two ways: by stopping their ears altogether (going deaf) or by wearing earpads or plugs designed to filter noise levels down, such as many shooters, press operators, and airport ground crewmen use on the job. Total stoppage means that the Ear cannot hear at all. Reducing plugs or pads put his hearing on a par with normal human capabilities.
USES OF CHANGED SENSES When using Changed senses to find things out, for example to find Hidden Things, the rules are as follows.
kinesthetic sense with the following abilities as a result.

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No penalties for movement on Treacherous Ground, or moving backward (other than running into something).
.Double the usual Base Movement Allowance used for climbing movement. .Strike to Side Hexes as i f Frontal and Rear Hexes as if Side.
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Allow movement on slackwires, tightropes, branches, ledges, etc., at about half his Base Movement Allowance. Deftness AST to move at full Base Movement Allowance without falling. Allow longer fall increments for measuring danger and damage.
A Balancer has a tendency toward attacks of motion sickness. Cars or boats on calm waters, or commercial jets, have a constant Distraction Factor a i D 6 . Rough driving, heavy seas, light planes would all have around D3 +3. Worse conditions have increased effects. Add 1 to the Distractions per hourthat the condition continues. Resisting theseeffects requires a Saving Throw using the average of the Wit and Health ASTs. It is up to the Gamesmaster to decide if Balancers are potentially the best zero-gravity operators Or permanent groundhogs.
BLENDS
The Blend is equipped with a photosensitive skin, some control over his body chemistry and involuntary muscular movements, and an instinctive sense of his surroundings. He is essentially a human chameleon. A Blend (stripped) can develop astoundingly effective personal camouflage, becoming a Hidden Thing. If motionless, the Blend is afully HiddenThing, requiring a Wit CST to detect (for normal human senses). He will only assume a skin coloration matching his background, but his Infrared signature, scent, etc., will not match the environment. In motion, the Blends power will still maintain visible coverage, though he must use Stealth to cover thesounds of movement. His Infrared signature is still detectable to Infrared scans. It requires a Wit AST to spot the Blend in motion, with a bonus of +1 if he is running and +1 if he is dodging (cumulative) . In close combat, the Blend is visible enough to his opponent to hit effectively, although the bewildering shifting colors and patterns of his skin will confuse attempts to strike precisely. If the Gamesmaster feels that this rather neutral little mutation needs some frosting to make it appealing, the Blends opponent in hand-to-hand combat needs to use his Average BCS. Missile fire against the Blend always uses an Average BCS. The penalties levied on the Blend vary and should be minor i f the heftier benefits are not used. The powers of the Blend do not work if he is clothed. One might permit a breechclout in the Comics Code tradition. The heavier version of this imposes a constant irritation at wearing an Average Armorvalue higherthan the Blends Will Group, due to the increased pressure sensitivity of his skin. Blends are a Changed type that presents a challenge to the player. A multiple Changed, such as a Blend who is an Eye, might be a lethally successful night fighter, effectively invisible but capable of moving freely. With proper training, he would be a near-perfect commando.
Attempt to find Hidden Thing using Changed sense that would normally be detectable by that sense in normal form: the mutant gets a Wit AST instead of a CST. If scanning for data that would not normally be detectable, a CST is still rolled. This latter use puts a burden on the player: he must specify that he is pushing his mutant senses to the limit. The Gamesmaster should then make a secret roll for the characters Wit Saving Throw. If it is successful, the Gamesmaster must decide what, if anything, such a scan will pick up. Of course, some things will be detected that have no relevance to the situation in hand. When using Changed senses to influenceSkills, the player must specify that he is attempting to use his mutation to enhance some Skill. Usually, this will be limited to Knowledges or Physical Skills using sensory input to operate. Search will be subject to bonuses for Eyes, Safecracking for Ears, etc. The Gamesmaster and player can discuss the relevance of the sense to the Skill in the particular use in application. If they agree that it is relevant, the player may roll a Will CST to see if he can interpolate the input into his BCS use. If he makes it, add a relevant bonus to the attempt, such as his Wit Group or a Group derived from his Power score. It is hard to say just what can be done with senses we do not possess. If the Gamesmaster agrees to allow some extraordinary use of the Changed Skill, the relevant Saving Throw is Will (to focus the perceptions on that sense) and should be a CST. Results of success should be worked out by the Gamesmaster and player (or Gamesmaster alone i f appropriate) in advance. If a Changed is exposed to his weakness as a Senser while occupied in this act, he should suffer the maximum penalty with no Saving Throw allowed.
PSIONICS
Besides changes in gross physical anatomy and body chemistry, one might expect to see mental mutation in the mutagen-rich wake of NBC warfare. Sections of the brain now unused by Man could become active or more powerful.
BALANCERS
One could argue for putting such a mutant under Sensers, but the Balancer is quite unique. He has a heightened
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The powers now studied by the psychic investigators could become concrete realities for the survivors of the Ruin. All Psionically Changed will acquire psionic power with the amount based on their ages. It is assumed that psychic ability starts to manifest at the onset of puberty, based o n the findings of some modern parapsychologists. Let us assume a base starting age of 14 in the Aftermoth! system. That year, and every year thereafter until the age of 26 (the average age at which the growth process levels off in human beings), the Changed will gain 1 0 3 of psionic power, called Psi (pronounced like sigh.). The initial score in Psi will be equal to: 1D3 per year at a value of the characters age minus 13. Thus, a 22-year-old character starting out in the Campaign would have 22-13 or 9D3 of Psi. It will be seen that at full majority the range of Psi power in a normal Changed will be 13-39. In essence, the new ability is treated like an additional Attribute in many ways. The two principal areas in which the Psi score functions are:
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The Changed may now direct the Power in some allowed manner. The direction requires 1 Action. Makea Psi AST. If it is made, the Power will take effect normally. If the throw is not made, the Power has not taken effect. On a Critical Miss, the Changeds Psi score will be reduced by the Psi Group of the Power projection he was attempting. The player must have declared the effective Psi power he was putting into the effort before attempting the Psi AST. He has the option of using less than his full score. If no such declaration was made, the Gamesmaster may assume that the full power was being used. Murian tries to project a Psionic Power. Her Psi is 25, for a Psi Group o f 4. She rolls a 20 on her Psi AST! Not only has her effort failed, but her Psi score will be reduced by 4 points, to an effective value of 27! This is sufficient to limit her to Group 3 until she recovers some of the lost Psi. Psi is recovered at a rate per day equal to the Changeds Will Group. No meansof increasing this is known to pre-Ruin science, and the Gamesmaster has discretion in allowing the development of any Psionic Skills in his Campaign. Once the direction attempt has been made, whether it succeeded or not, the Changed will check to see if the strain of using the Power has affected his system. He must roll a Health Saving Throw. If a CST is made, then no deleterious effect occurs. I f an AST is made, the character takes half the Psi Group used for the Power in Subdual Damage. If the Saving Throw is not made, he takes the full value of the Psi Group in Subdual Damage. On a Critical Miss, he takes damage as for a normal miss, and is subject to System Shock as if he had taken a severe wound. If the direction attempt succeeded, then the Power works, even if the user passes out as a result of the strain.
The effects of certain Psi Powers (see below) are measured by the number generated by rolling Effect Dice, just as Damage Dice determine the effects of using Strength. Calculate the Psi Group for the character as you would for any Attribute. A Psi Saving Throw should be generated, as for any Attribute. This will determine the Changeds success in using his Powers, as stipulated in the rules later on.
There are several broad categories of psychic phenomena recognized today. In Aftermath! these categories are called Functions. The are: Telepathy: Forms of psionic ability dealing with contact or communication between two or more minds. ESP: Short for Extra-Sensory Perception. Psychic phenomena in which data are gathered which are beyond the reach of the characters physical senses. Psychokinesis: Mind over matter. Causing changes in matter by mental force. Precognition: Sensing events or data before they actually occur or impinge upon the other senses. All Psionically Changed will have at least one Psi Function. It will be rare for early generations of the Changed to display more than one Psi Function to any great extent. The Functions, in conjunction with his Talents, will determine what Powers a Changed has. For every Talent in which the Changed has ascore greater than 10, a Power will be gained, as described below. In using Psi Powers, the Effect Die roll made fortheoutput of such Powers will be multiplied by a factor equal to (Talent/lO). Vern has active Psi, with a Function in Telepathy. He has Communicative Talent of 14 and Combative Talent of 18. He will thus receive the Psi Powers ascribed to Telepathy in those two Talents. In using Effect Dice for the Communicative Power, his base die r o l l will be multiplied by ( 1 4 / 1 0 ) or 1.4. In the Combative Power the Effect roll is multiplied by 1.8.
Receptive Powers
Unlike the Projected Powers, these Receptive, or RPowers, function continuously, doing their office fortheuser at a level of effectiveness dictated by the Changeds Psi Group. Let us say that an R-Power gives a permanent plusto the Changeds score in some area, such asaSaving Throw, a BCS, or some other Ability. The user recives such a bonus equal to his Psi Group at all times, every time the affected Abilities, Attributes, or Skills are used.
TELEPATHIC POWERS
The Powers listed below are usable by all Changed with the Telepathic Function if they have a score above 10 in the indicated Talent. Charismatic Psychic Induction (P). The Changed may attempt to take over the mind of a victim by mental invasion. The modified Effect Die roll must exceed the targets Will for this to occur. The Changed may implant a strong belief, image, or suggestion in the victims mind. The victim will act upon this as if it were his own conviction uritil he is released from control by psionic activity (a Psychic Induction to that end must generate an Effect score greater than the victims CST to work), or until his senses provide proof that the suggestion is untrue. In all such actions the victim acts at full efficiency. This form of Psychic Induction may be used as often as desired by the Changed. Alternatively, the Changed may take over the victims body entirely. Resistance to such domination will have the effect of Fatiguing the victim 1 level while under such control. The Changed will have the use of his own Skills and mental Attributes, but the possessed body exercises its own Physical Attributes and Activities. The Changed may not use the victims Skills in this case, as they are walled away from the controlling centers of the brain along with the victims consciousness. The Changed may so control only one victim at a time, but he can switch from victim to victim without
PSlONlC POWERS
There are two main formats governing the use of Psi Powers in Aftermath!: Projected (P) and Receptive (R). You may also think of them as active and passive.
Projected Powers
P-Powers require active concentration by the user to work and using them may exert a strain on his system. The player controlling thechanged must declarethat he is trying t o use a P-Power. He then must make a Will AST to tune in the characters Psi abilities. This attempt requires 1 Action. Retries in theevent of failure are permitted. There are no Critical Miss penalties or Critical Save bonuses.
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returning t o his own body. Such an attack requires a Psi CST to direct properly. The Changeds own body is in an unconscious state during the second form of this Power. It is as if he had projected his consciousness into the other form. He may return to his own form at will, and must d o s o when thevictim passes out of range, or is knocked out or killed. This takes 1 Action using the Changeds own PCA. Half of all damage suffered by the possessed body is suffered by the Changed as Subdual Damage. If thevictim is knocked out, the Changed must save against System Shock using Will instead of Health. If the victim is killed while possessed, the Changed must make a Saving Throw or suffer a fatal heart attack, again with a Will CST. The Psychic Induction Power only functions against a sentient opponent (one of more or less human intellect).
Combative Mind Bomb (P). The Changed can blast at the victims consciousness with volts of mental force, confusing him or even rendering him unconscious. If the Effect Die roll exceeds the victims Will CST, he is Dazed for a full Combat Turn. If the Effect Die roll exceeds the victims Will AST, he is Stunned for a full Combat Turn. If the Effect Die roll exceeds thevictims Will, he isexposed to System Shock. The victim will reduce the effect of the mental attack if he can make a Will Saving Throw, with a penalty equal to the Changeds Psi Group, based on the Power used. An AST result will reduce the severity of the effect by one step. A CST reduces it by two steps. Effects are cumulative. If a Changed can hit a Dazed victim with another Daze before he comes out of it, the victim suffers the Stunned result. If he Stuns a Dazed victim, the victim may suffer System Shock. A Daze effect against a victim suffering any effect of Mental Stun will put the target in danger of System Shock. Communicative Mental Telepathy (P or R). This is pure and simple telepathic communication: two or more minds linked together in an exchange of information. Range and effectiveness of communication will vary.
T o read a closed, hostile, or unknown mind without its knowledge is another matter. While it also has a maximum range of Psi x 10 meters, and requires some idea of where the minds owner is in relation to the telepath, it permits no sending by the Changed. A Psi CST is needed to make contact, and the telepath simply experiences the flow of surface thoughts in his targets mind. He can maintain the link-up for a maximum period equal t o the Effect Die roll in Combat Turns, or until the target is knocked out or killed. If the target dies while the telepath is linked up, the Changed is exposed to System Shock but must save with Will, not Health.
GENERAL NOTES ON TELEPATHY In all cases of communication among open minds, whether telepathic or not, the rate of information transfer is greater than in speech. Assume a ratio of 1O:l. Thus, if Detailed Action Time is involved, the participants may speak 10 words per Phase. Those participating in any involved Mental Telepathy are assumed to be in Observe and Command Action. The Gamesmaster should allow fairly involved consultation among such characters without advancing the Game Time very much. Telepathy transcends language barriers among sentient minds. It cannot operate with non-sentient minds (animals, plants, etc.). The rate of thought reading from a hostile mind is at real time values. The telepath gets the thoughts as they arise in the surface (sub-verbal) consciousness of the target. Esthetic Empathy (P or R). Using it an an R-Power, the Empath is sensitive to emotional states of creatures (sentient or nonsentient) in his field of vision, t o a range equal to his Psi in meters. He receives such data only as a one-word statement from the Gamesmaster summarizing the dominant emotion in the observed characters mind: Fear, Anger, Love, Trust, Hostility, Hatred, Hunger, etc. He may use this R-Power on one character at a time, and a reading requires an Action to become clear. As a P-Power, the Empathy facility allows modification of a targets basic emotional state. The target must be in range as defined for the R-Power Empathy. The Effect Die roll must exceed his Will score to take full effect, which is an overmastering emotional state, flooded with a single-minded fixation on the emotion named by the empathic character. In applying this full-fledged force, the Gamesmaster should allow some measure of control to the Empath. He may specify that the emotion is directed at some particular individual or group, or tailor the condition so that he can manipulate the victim further by playing on his mental state. If the Effect Die roll exceeds the victims AST, he will indeed be inclined along the lines of the stated emotion, but remains in some measure of control. He will be in a mood. Player Characters should be enjoined to portray their mood honestly for the effects duration. The Gamesmaster will manipulate the responses of non-player characters the same way.
One-Eyed Harry has Telepathic Function and high Esthetic Talent, so he can function as an Empath. Confronted by two rough muggers in the ruined streets, he tries t o drive them off by empathic attack. He hurls a sensation of intense fear at one of the pair, rolling out a high Effect and far exceeding the victims Will. The stricken robber flees, screaming. Trying the same tactic o n the other goon, he only manages to beat his foes Will AST. Shaking but determined, the man slips out a knife and closes o n Harry, mouthing fearful obscenities. Weakened by his efforts (Harry did badly o n his Saving Throws against strain), the mutant moves to meet him.
Among Telepaths
If all involved in communication have the Mental Telepathy Power, it may be used as either an R- or a PPower. If it is used as an R-Power, the maximum range for communication is the Psi score in kilometers. If both succeed in using it as a P-Power, the maximum range is 100 times that. This is the maximum distance which can separate any two members of the link-up, so that relay chains can be forged across great distance by concerted telepathic action. The maximum duration of a P-Power link-up is equal to the Effect Die roll in minutes. Use the individual telepaths Effect Die roll to see how long he can stay in the link before trying t o Project the Power again.
To A Non-Telepath
The sending range to a non-telepath i s more limited. T o a willing mind known to the telepath (some character in his group of friends, close associates, etc.), the maximum range is the telepaths Psi x 100 meters. He must make a Psi AST to initiate contact, but this does not count as using Mental Telepathy as a P-Power. It merely indicates that his signal has become readable to his contact. To send to a closed, hostile, or unknown mind requires a P-Power use of Mental Telepathy. Some idea of the minds physical location is needed, and if the direction roll succeeds, it is merely a request to allow communications as described above between willing minds. Range maximum is Psi x 10 meters.
In the above case, as the thief may be fairly assumed
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to be affected by his fear, the Gamesmaster should put

a few Distractions on him in the ensuing fight.
It is difficult to quantify the full workings of empathic manipulation. The results of putting a particular emotion into a given target under one set of circumstances are just too unpredictable for such precision. I n terms of duration, assume the fulleffects of empathic attack to last for a number of minutes derived by a separate Psi Group Effect Die roll. Remember t o use the lower Group if the Changed has not used his full Psi. The lesser form of empathic control lasts only for a number of Combat Turns equal to the Psi Group used for the Power.
prospective donor may only answer yes or no. A no breaks contact. The Tap remains operative for a maximum number of Combat Turns equal to the Effect Die roll. The donor has no constraints upon his activities for this period except the obvious one: he cannot use the loaned Skill. All Attribute/Ability-based values for using the Skill are generated by the Changeds scores, not the donors.
ESP POWERS
These Powers are available to Changed with ESP Function and a score over 10 i n the stipulated Talents.
Mechanical Synaptics (P). The Synaptic Power allows manipulation of the neural flows in the targets brain. It functions o n any organic brain, human, animal, or other, on any level of conscious life possessed of a complex central nervous system. Let us assume invertebrates are not in this class. It has two applications: one harmful to the target, and one benign. As an attack, the Synaptic Power allows a momentary interruption of the energy flows in the victims nervous system. Basically, a successful use of the Power will d o the Effect Die roll as Subdual Damage to the victim. Victims are allowed both Will and Health ST against the attack. Any AST result will reduce the effective Psi Group of the attack by 1. Any CST result reduces it by two. Thus, a Psi Group 4 Changed hits a target with Synaptic attack. The victim rolls twice, once for each permitted Attribute. He scores a Will CST and a Health AST. He will reduce the Psi Group of the attack t o 1. His only damage will be 1 point (the Effect score for Group 1) times whatever multiplier the Changed has. The other, benign form of Synaptic Power will repair damage to neural nexi in the targets system. This effect will reduce the advance of Drugs or Diseases which operate against the nervous system. The latter classification comprises any Disease which has Will, Wit. Deftness, or Speed as its target. The Power will not cure the sufferer, merely hold off the spread of the illness through his system. Natural Animal Telepathy (Por R). As the name implies, the Animal Telepath can use the Telepathy Power with any animal. Let us assume that this is limited to the vertebrates again. In addition, the projection of concepts beyond an animals level of conceptualization is not possible. One cannot mind tell a dog to fire a machine gun. The animal will respond with a confused interrogative. The Animal Telepaths specific Powers are as follows. He can communicate with any suitable animal within a range as for sending to non-telepaths, subject to the same requirements. Using this as a P-Power, the Animal Telepath can order the animal to do something if it is not agreeable to the request. This might include telling a guard dog not to react to intruders, making hungry predators ignore the succulent characters, making a riding horse refuse its riders orders, etc. The Gamesmaster and player must work out the acceptable limits of such communication. Too many slips by the Changed in talking over the animals head will automatically make it a hostile mind and break off communications. Thereafter, it is possible only to read the creatures thoughts, which is probably not worth the effort. Scientific Brain Tap (P). The Brain Tap allows the telepath to borrow Skill points from willing donors. He must direct the Power properly to such a character within a range of his Psi in meters. He will have the use of the donors BCS in some agreed-upon Skill. The arrangements are made either verbally or via a limited form of Telepathy in which the Changed may only ask May I Borrow your Skill in -?The
Charismatic Group Sense (R). The Esper can sense the social bondsof any group of people as if they were a tangible, but Hidden, thing. That is, with a Wit CST, subject to a bonus equal to his Psi Group, he can determine the following:
.The leaders of any group confronting him. The absence of members and their general locale (near, far, in ambush, etc.).
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Whether the group he sees has any direct ties to another group, i f it is part of a larger community or whatnot, with general indications of the location and size of the other group.
.The general intentions of the observed group toward himself and his associates (hostile, friendly, neutral, etc.). He will perceive this visually as lines of force connecting the various individuals of the group. Loners will have only tenuous force lines in thisaura. Solo explorers from a large community would exhibit lines indicative of strong connections but lacking any immediate compatriots. The Esper will sense the relative nearness of associates even if the subject(s) is (are) unaware that his (their) compatriots are in the area. The Gamesmaster should give relative indications of immediately applicable data about observed groups first. The Esper may then ask any other questions he may feel are relevant. The Gamesmaster will answer those coming under the scope of the Power, to wit: number of other associations in general terms (none, a few individuals, large community); central location of main community (distant, close, in the area, and a compass bearing); and so on. Specifically not visible to the Power are such data as general level of technical expertise, presence of high-level mutations, possession of artillery, or other technological information. Possible answers might concern political or social structure, overall state of group morale, and other sociological data. The Gamesmaster is the final arbiter of this Powers scope. If some guide is desired, these notes might help: One scan attempt permitted per group in an encounter. The number of extra questions allowed after the Gamesmaster gives base data has a limit equal to the Changeds Psi Group. Questioning rules outside the scope of Power count toward this maximum.
Combative Combat Sense (R). The user of :his Power has several capabilities. He can defend against any attack from any angle if he knows it is corning. That is, he can do so when he is not surprised and is prepared for combat. He will therefore increase his WDA against hand-to-hand combat by his Psi Group, and his CDA against missile attacks by half that figure. This latter bonus is added to whatever effective CDA he enjoys, and is not increased by movement! Thus, with a base CDA of 2, at a run he gets the normal increase (2x3, for an effective CDA of 6)and adds half his Psi Group to that, round up. He will also know automatically what weapon form an opponent is using, if it is not self-evident, and may ask at any
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time what option his opponent is using: Attack, Defend, Aim Missile Weapon, etc. The Gamesmasters answer should be based on what the opponent is doing in the Action Phase in which the question is asked. Only one such question may be asked in a Combat Turn by the Changed. Communicative Clairsentience (P). This is one of the classic forms of ESP. The user can. experience sensory data without being physically i n the area he is observing. The projection of the Power puts the clairvoyants body into a trance, and his point of view may move freely i n any direction and through any barriers. He will witness the surroundings as if he were physically traversing the space, with the following proviso; he may plug in only 1 sense per Psi Group when he sends his point of view traveling. A Changed with a Psi Group of 3 could use Clairsentience to explore via Sight, Sound, and Touch. Once the Character has begun to project, he may not alter his choices. The maximum range from the body to which the point of view may be sent is 10 meters x Psi. The maximum duration of the projection is the Effect Die Roll in Combat Turns. The point of view has a BMA of 4 in detailed movement situations, and in larger scales it has an effective Speed of 20 x Psi Group. When investigating some area without overmuch movement, allow about 1 Combat Turn t o get a cursory look, and 1D3 Combat Turns for closer inspection. T o avoid overstrain, the Clairvoyant must return his point of view to his physical body before the duration of the Power runs out. I n this case, he will regain consciousness in one Action. Otherwise, he is in danger of System Shock, against which he will save with Will, not Health. Esthetic Risk Sense (R). The Esper has an innate sense of wrongness when confronting things which present a personal danger, or when he is entering some dangerous situation or is about to be attacked. He will experience this when about t o trigger a trap, step onto a dangerous structure, be ambushed, swallow a Mickey Finn, etc. A Will CST, to which he adds his Psi Group, will give some indication of the nature of the danger. Mechanical Mechsense (P). The Esper will be able to reduce the labor involved in various jobs by directing his Mechsense onto the problem. The Task Points needed to perform some repair or research job are reduced by his Effect Die roll. The effective Barrier value of barriers against which he directs operations is reduced, since he senses the most productive way to attack the problem. The Power may be applied only once t o a given task. If it is a small job and the Esper generates a higher score than the one needed to complete it, say rolling an Effect roll of 20 against a 15-point Barrier, one BCS or ST of the appropriate type must still be made, consuming the necessary time, to apply his information and complete the task. Natural Phenomanalysis (R). The Phenomanalyst applies his mutant senses to all natural phenomena and to determining the nature of plant and animal products. He can determine the following data as if they were Hidden Things, adding his Psi Group t o the Wit CST he needs:
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.The general nature of mutated plants or animals he encounters.

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Lastly, he can diagnose diseases, determining 1 element of their coding (as described in Book 1, p. 38) per Psi Group.
The Phenomanalyst may apply this Power only once to a given phenomenon or encounter. Scientific ESP Scan ( R or P). Using ESP Scan as an R-Power the Changed can add his Psi Group t o any Wit ST needed to analyze the nature of a clue, the solution to a problem, or the location of a Hidden Thing. He may also add this to his BCS in Skills using research or knowledge, or theabilitytogather data. Examples include: High Tech Research, Search, all Skills for designing systems, and most Repair Skills.
PSYCHOKINETIC POWERS
These Powers are available to Changed with the Psychokinesis Function and Talent Scores above 10 i n the designated Talents. Charismatic Muscle Control (P). The Psychokinetic may apply his Power to overcome the control of a targets muscles. Partial success will reduce the muscles effectiveness but leave the victim in control. Full control allows thechanged t o forcethe victim t o move as the Changed directs. If the Effect Die roll overcomes the Strength AST of the victim, he is affected but not taken over. While under the influence of the attack, he will move as if Fully Encumbered. If the Effect Die roll is greater than thestrength score, the mutant is in full control, although the body still suffers the pseudo-Encumbrance due t o the frantic struggles of the owner. The Changed may direct the body as he wishes. Effects last for a number of Combat Turns equal to the Psi Group. The maximum range for attempting control or maintaining it is the Changeds Psi in meters. While maintaining control, the Changed is limited to a walk and may engage in no other Actions. If he violates these limits, control is assumed to be dropped at that point. The controlled character may react on the next Action Phase. Combative Kinetic Bolt (P). A blast of pureenergy, passing through all armor, to deliver a concussion blow t o the victim. It does the Effect Die roll as Subdual Damage. Communicative Distant Voice (P). The Changed may cause vibrations in the air t o transmit his voice to any point in sight, with a maximum range of 100 meters x Psi. He may communicateat normal speeds for speech for a number of Combat Turns equal t o his Effect Die roll. Esthetic Camouflage (P).The Psychokineticalters thealignment of the surface molecules of an inorganic object so that it assumes a color and texture consonant with its surroundings. This also diffuses basic Infrared signature. Thus, a truck motor could not be masked as a heat source, but its location could not be pinpointed by a character or device capable of perceiving Infrared signatures. The effect will vary. Camouflaging a door orsmall item will make it a Hidden Thing, but camouflaging a tank will not. The Gamesmaster has the final say i n such matters. The effect endures for a number of hours equal to the Effect Die roll. The maximum area the Changed may so alter is equal to 3 square meters times his Psi Group. Mechanical Telekinesis (R or P).Thepowertomoveobjects by forceof mind. The R-Power allows the exertion of a Strength Saving Throw to do something at a rangeof the Psi Group in meters.
Whether some climatic condition is completely natural or has some other facet to it, such as bacterial pollution, chemical contamination, etc. He will add his Psi Group to all Saving Throws required to escape the dangerous effects of hostile phenomena. Hecan tell by this means if a phenomenon is artificial in origin or not. 0 If plant or animal foods are nourishing or not, and if they are partially contaminated he knows which portions are tainted and which are safe.
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~~~~
~~
As this is under mental control, the Changed could, for example, apply it to the lock on a door without needing any special action to focus all his energy on the lock alone. The Power also allows the Changed t o lift and move up to half his ENC Cap and move it at a walking pace for a maximum number of Combat Turns equal to his Psi Group. This is allowed on any unattached/unheld item in line of sight out to a range of 10 meters x Psi. Objects within the range for the Saving Throw use of the Power may be thrown instead, with a Strength Group based on Psi Group (at -1 as with all thrown missiles) and a BCS equal t o the Psychokinetics Will AST. As a P-Power, it enables the Psychokinetic t o Brawl at a range of up to 10 meters x Psi, using Psi in place of any Attributes used i n the Brawling process, including the BCS, for which the direction roll serves instead. The Power may be used t o press an attack, once properly directed, f o r a number of Actions equal t o the users Psi Group. Natural Cellular Psychokinesis (P). The Changed can heal wounds, restoring the Effect Die roll in Lethal or Subdual Damage, or the Psi Group in Critical Damage, by successful use of the Power. Such an act reduces the natural Healing Rate of the recipient by 1 point per use, as it draws upon this energy to accelerate the regeneration process. Unlike most drugs with this effect, however, the psionic form may be applied after the Healing Rate reaches 0. It will continue to reduce the Shock Factor of the recipient, and must cease when this is at 0. Such lost points are recovered only by the passage of time, at 1 per day. Until the 10-point basic Shock Factor is recovered, no restoration of the Healing Rate occurs. The Changed must be within 1 meter of thetarget and both must be concentrating on the psychic link to accomplish this activity. It requires 10 minutes per use to complete. If interrupted, pro-rate the healing done at 10%of rolled value per minute spent. Fractions are lost. The check for stress on the mutant is not made until the use of the Power ends, naturally or by interruption. Scientific Electrokinesis (P). The psychokinetic can influence the flows of electrical current in circuits, or generate a bolt of power for combat. In controlling circuitry, the Gamesmaster must exercise his judgment. Basically, the Power can interrupt a circuit for a maximum number of Combat Turns per use equal t o the users Psi Group. It can reduce the flow of heavy voltage in electrical defenses of similar circuits by the Psi Group. Thus, the Electrokinetic mutant could reduce the charge in an electrified fence by his Group for an equal number of Combat Turns. He could do the same to a power supply. When dealing with more delicate flows, as in electronic devices, the Changed can switch them off for a period equal to the Effect Die roll. Lasers, radios, ignition systems, alarms, sensors, or cameras are some of the possible targets. Contrariwise, the Changed may generate power into a suitable storage battery (i.e., an Eterna type) at .1 charge per Effect point rolled. In its more dramatic manifestation, the Electrokinetic may alter the targets charge with respect t o the earth, essentially hitting it with a small lightning bolt. This will act as an electrical attack with a Charge equal t o the users Psi Group. Insulation will defend as normal. This may be directed against ungrounded objects as well, doing considerable damage to metal and light plastics, very littleto wood. Adjust the effect on Barrier values according to the Gamesmasters decision. The maximum range for Electrokinetic phenomena is 10 meters x Psi.
PRECOGNITIVE POWERS
These powers are available to the Changed having the Precognition Function and a score above 10 in the designated Talents. Charismatic Reaction Reading (R). The Precognitive Changed may foresee the effects of his words or actions upon another Characters attitude. He can, in effect, alter the results of an Attitude Die roll by his actions. The Gamesmaster may limit the scope of the power t o one use per situation. The Changed player must announce that he is using Reaction Reading, and rolls his Effect Die for his current Psi Grouop. The result may be applied in full or in part to raise or lower the Attitude roll in questioli. Non-Player Characters using the power on Player-Characters will be able to convince the Players of whatever attitude they desire, within limits determined by the Gamesmaster on how unlikely this may seem. A sallow-faced rogue, just swallowing a mouthful of man-flesh, will not foresea the right words t o use to convince Players that he is not a cannibal since NO foreseeable words to that effect exist. Combetive Combat Precog (R). The Combat Precog power is similar t o thecombat Sense Powerenjoyed by Changed with ESP. It adds the current Psi Group to the characters effective CDA. AFTER all modifiers for movement have been calculated. Unlike Combat Sense, it operates at full value vs. any form of attack or danger which is relevant to CDA. The user does NOT have to know that the attack is coming. The Combat Precog cannot apply his analytical consciousness to the data he receives from his Psi. The information obtainable by Combat Sense users is not available to him. Communicative Presience (P). The power to foresee the future is gained. At any point where the Precognitive and those with him are confronted by a choice of actions (e.g. to enter a building, to follow a given strategy, etc.), the Changed may go into a prophetic trance, requiring one minute on the average. Successful use of the power is checked secretly by the Gamesmaster, and a secret roll of the appropriate Effect Die is also made.Thisgivesthenumberof minutes intothefuture which the psychic has seen. Play then proceeds normally, with the following exception: until the end of the time rolled by the Gamesmaster, the Players may decide that they did not perform the action at the Decision Point where the Precog used Prescience. In other words, having foreseen the events the (presumably) wish to avoid, they simply did not put themselves in a situation where they would encounter them. Play is rolled back to the point where Prescience was used (theendofthat one minute Trance) and the Players may undertake any actions they wish except the one that they chose in the vision. The operation of the power may be summed up as a second chance to rectify a bad decision. The Players lose this option if, during the time covered by the vision, one of the following things occurs: The precog who foresaw theevents is killed or knocked out. This reflects the traditional theory that prophets cannot foresee personal danger or death in their visions. Another precog is present in the group (if any) which poses a danger to them. The two mutants will cancel each others powers out.
If the party cannot agree on how or when t o alter their course of action, i.e. to exercise the option to cancel the recent events or not. The Gamesmaster may impose a limit in real time on such disputations.
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Esthetic Alarm (R). The power much resembles Risk Sense, the power derived from Esthetic Talent by those with ESP. Unlike using the Risk Sense, the Precog will not be able to use his Will to determine the nature of the danger. He will, however, receive a similar bonus to his Saving Throws, BCS rolls, or other defenses (including CDA if germane) against the results of the danger. Again, Precognition is handled here as something operating below the threshold of conscious thought. Mechanical Techanalysis (P). The precog can determine what a given device does with a single successful use of this power. He can work out how t o make it work (in the sense of turning it on) by performing a Task to that end under terms set by the Gamesmaster, using the power for a BCS and his Psi Effect Die roll to generate the base Task Points achieved. When the Task is completed, he knows how to handle the device. This does not confer skill in its use, if such is needed. as in the case of a weapon or vehicle. Assume a BCS in using that particular device is gained. This would be equal to the Changeds Psi Group. This is not generalized toother similar devices. Thus, a Precog who has a Psi Group of 4 and who uses Techanalysis to deduce the operation of a Jet Plane, has a BCS of 4 in flying the plane, ONLY while using that Particular jet. He does NOT gain a BCS of 4 in the Skill Fixed Wing Jet Aircraft Pilot. Natural This is identical with the ESP power of Phenomanalysis. Scientific Process Precognition (R). The Precog can subject any given process (Lab Practice, Technological Task, etc.) to an analysis which will reveal any potential dangers or critical failures in his handling of it. This must be applied to Tasks which the Precog is conducting personally. He cannot interpret the data relating to fields in which he has no knowledge. Basically, the Precog may roll a Psi AST to negate any failure he may encounter while performing some Task of a scientific or technological nature. He may attempt to do so once per failure. If the AST is made, it will turn a simple failure into a success, allowing the Precog to accumulate Task Points, and turns a Critical Failure into a simple miss.
After campaign, 5 could be added to the die roll for each generation since the Ruin. The Gamesmaster should feel free to adjust the modifiers to suit the rationale for his own campaign.
MUTATION GENERATION TABLE (10100)

Die ~ ~
1 1 Mutation
DETERMINING MUTATIONS
Consider the purely random alterations in mind and body that could result from the game of mutagenic Russian Roulette that will be played with man in a Post-Holocaust environment; as radiation, drugs, viral elements or whathave-you act upon the deepest recesses of his cell structure. Some of these changes will be beneficial, others will be deleterious. Still others will have no direct impact on his survival capacity. In game terms this may mean the character has one of the types of mutations described later in this section, a simple change from the human norm, or no visible sign or manifestation of a change in his genetic material. We make the assumption that a serious mutation that was deleterious to the organism would have killed it before the beginning of play. For the Gamesmasters convenience, we provide a table for selection of mutations. If he decides to alter the types of mutations present in his campaign, he should draw up a suitable table. For a campaign using these mutations where the setting is shortly after the Ruin or the mutagenic agents are not very active, a negative modifier (say 5 or 10) might be used on the die roll. I f the mutagenic are extremely active (perhaps due to a deliberately designed mutation causing virus) or the campaign is set several generations after the Ruin, a positive modifier could be used. For the 200 Years
01-05 Actual mutation is minor. No visible signs. 06-15 Skin coloration affected. This may take the form of albinism, melanism, uneven distribution of pigment (melanin) causing a piebald appearance, or even the creation of a color not previously found in human skin tones such as green or scarlet. 16-30 Skeletal modification. The mutants skeletal structure might be altered causing a humpbacked condition, increased or decreased fragility, or increased or decreased flexibility. The first might have noeffect on play, the second might alter the percentage chance for a bone breaking, while the third could help or hinder a character who finds himself in tight surroundings. 31-40 Alteration of hair fibers. The mutant might find himself devoid of body hair or completely hirsuite. A more extreme form might have the hair structure altered to a feathery or tendrilous nature. 41-45 Alteration of features. Disfigurement lowering the characters personal appearance would be the most common. Extreme cases might include the loss or modification of one of the senses located in the head. 46-60 Limb Modification. This could be minor such as the loss or addition of a toe or finger. It could be more extreme with the actual or functional loss of a whole limb. This would cause varying penalties due to circumstances. Optionally the modification could be the addition of another limb or pair of limbs. Whether such limbs were functional and to what degree is left to the descretion of the Gamesmaster. 61-75 Tailed. The mutant has a tail which could be only a stump or a fully developed organ. 76-90 Psionic mutation. The mutant has a psionic mutation with a Function as determined from the Psionic Function Table and the specific power(s) as determined by his Talent Scores. 91-99 Physical Mutation. The character has a mutation as determined on the Physical Mutation Table. The exact strength and nature is left to the Gamesmaster. 00 Wild Card mutation. The mutant has a unique power. The player and the Gamesmaster should get together to design the specific power and its limitations. If such creativity is not desired or is precluded by lack of time, allow the player to choose his mutation from those normally listed. Any mutant with a Psionic, Physical, o r w i l d Card mutation may also have a simpler mutation as well. There is a 40% chance of this. If it is the case reroll on the Mutation Selection Table ignoring rolls higher than 75. All mutations havea50% chanceof being sterile. This need not be checked unless and until the Changed One is attempting to have offspring.
PSlONlC FUNCTION TABLE

Die Roll 01-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-90 91-00 Function Telepathy ESP Pychokinesis Precognition Choice of Function Two Functions. Reroll ignoring results over 90
PHYSICAL MUTATION TABLE

Die Roll Mutation
01-25 Weak mutation. Reroll ignoring results less than 25. The character has a weakened t r lesser version of the rolled power(s). 26-35 STRONG 36-40 QUICK 41-50 TOUGH 51-60 IMMUNE 61-75 SMART 76-80 EAR
an enormous load of mutagens into the environment could lead to any result one can imagine (and quite a few one cannot). Lets assume that the tendency will be for the mutations to become reinforced.
Combinations: Characters may be born with more than

one dominant Change. A Balancer who is also a Blend. A Strong-Tough (do not get that one unhappy with you). A physically Changed Psionic. Psionics with more than one Psi Function.
Intensified Mutations: Strongs with +20 in their Strength Attribute. Psionics who get a D6, or2D3, of Psi every year. The basic patterns given here are made stronger and more potent in later generations. New Mutations: The introduction of a new form of Change
is always available to the Gamesmaster. Several latergeneration powers we have experimented with include Teleports and Pyrokinetics. Teleports: A Power derived from the interaction of Psychokinesis and the averaged Scores of the Scientific and Natural Talents. The user may teleport to any place he can see clearly (or sense with ESP) within a range of 5 meters x Psi. It requires 1 Action to focus in for the jump. Pyrokinesis: Make a fire attack on a target with Strength Group equal to the Psi Group. Range is 10 meters x Psi. I f within a range equal to Psi score, double the intensity of the flame attack. You see the possibilities. Do not let the restraints of biology bind your imagination too closely. What you want to see in the campaign should be in the campaign.
81-85 EYE
86-90 BALANCER 91-95 BLEND 96-99 OPTIONS: A. Player picks 1 mutation without penalties applied to his power. 6. Roll for 2 physical mutations (ignore rolls over95). C. Player picks 1 mutation and alters its abilities to suit himself then the Gamesmaster alters its weaknesses t o suit himself!. 00 Player designs his own mutation with Gamesmasters aid; treat as 96-99.
THE CHANGED IN THE FUTURE

It is difficult to posit the directions evolution may take the successful mutations in the Aftermath. The random genetic shuffle that hit the human race when the Ruin dumped such
R EPUTAT IO N
During the course of his adventuring career, a character will acquire a reputation. In many campaigns, a Gamesmaster will treat this in a very nebulous fashion. In some, it will not be a factor at all. This is certainly allowable and, in some campaigns, the play group might even find it preferable. For the Gamesmaster who wishes to have a more concrete handle on the concept of reputation, or Rep, we provide these guidelines. Reputation is gained by singular execution of a deed or by continued performance in an area of expertise. The performance may be successful or not. In some cases, reputation is inherent in holding a given position. The components of a characters reputation will affect the way in which non-player characters will react to him and with him. A character with a reputation as a tough fighter will find that pacifistic characters fear and/or respect him while belligerent young punks occasionally challenge him to prove that they are better than he is. A characters reputation will add to his Recognition Factor. This represents, in some cases, the circulation of his description along with the tales that form the basis of his reputation. Thus, when a character is recognized, those recognizing him will be aware of his reputation. At the least, they will know of thegeneral areas in which thecharacter has gained his reputation. entered in the Positive Merit column of the Rep Area to which the action belongs. If the character fails to perform the action, it will be entered in the Negative Merit column. In some cases, inaction on the part of a character will result in merit gains or losses. This is particularly the case with regard to the Survival Area of Rep. For the most part, the Gamesmaster will not wish to rate every little thing done by a character. He may wish to rate a given scenario as a whole, or break it down into segments corresponding to particular areas in which reputation can be gained. Some suggestions with regard to areas to rate are:
Combat: The Gamesmaster can rate an individual combat

where the character fights one-on-one with another character. He may, however, wish to deal with a firefight as a whole and apportion the results of success among the participating characters. A man might be rated as having a figure of merit equal to his DRT/PO rounded to the nearest but with a minimum Of 1. If a character engages in a specific duel with another specially-designed character, the base figure of merit might have a value added to it equal to the defeated characters Rep/lO, nearest. Dangers: A danger such as a contaminated environment might have avalueequal to thevirulenceorstrength of the danger. This would be applied to a characters reputation for survival. Other dangers such as the attack of wild animals could affect the characters reputation as a Survivor or as a Hunter at the discretion of the Gamesmaster. Animals might be rated for merit by their size and nature. A
EARNED REPUTATION
The Gamesmaster will adjudicate when an action on the part of a character is of a level sufficient to affect his reputation. The action will be assigned afigure of merit. If the character performs the action successfully, the value will be
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herbivore would have a value equal to its Mass/30, down, while a carnivore would be equal to its Mass/l5, down. Particular things that increase the danger of the encounter with the beast, such as its being able to use poison, its being rabid, intelligent or semi-intelligent direction of the attack, etc., would multiply the basevalue by 1.5. A combination of factors would add .3 t o the multiplier per factor beyond the first.
RECOGNITION AND REPUTATION

An increased reputation will increase the chance that a character will be recognized. When recognized, the Gamesmaster may assume that the characters reputation is also known. This will be the reputation as expressed on the Character Record Sheet in the Rep section. As the Gamesmaster knows, this may not be the true evaluation of the characters accomplishments and failures, but the nonplayer characters will only know what is expressed on the sheet. When this happens, the Gamesmaster should refresh his memory of the reputation by asking the player. to show him the Rep section of the Character Record Sheet of the character who has been recognized. When dealing with a group of Player Characters, the Gamesmaster may wish to save himself time and effort by only checking to see if the leader or the character with the highest Recognition Factor is recognized. It may be assumed that if the one is recognized, any characters who are usually found in association with him are recognized for themselves also. New members of the group might have to be recognized separately. A characters Recognition Factor will be increased by 1 for every 10 full points of Reputation that he has acquired.
Sheer Courage: Braving a known danger or surviving any

great danger by dint of valor, wits, and/or plain good luck will tend to make people consider the character(s) some kind(s) of hero(es). Thus, their Rep for Bravery will be increased, or, if they run (or appear to run) from such an encounter, decreased. A base value for such an encounter, ifwith men, could be rated as if a Custom Army were being created. The average of the calculated Offense and Defense values divided by 100 and rounded to the nearest whole number would give a good base. Such a value should be divided by the value for the characters involved in defeating or facing the danger (even those that were killed).
Puzzles and Problems: Characters solving such things

will almost certainly demonstrate Competence in some form. Such a thing should be treated as a Danger and given a rating of merit which is divided up among the characters involved in the solution.
VARIATIONS ON REPUTATION DUE TO LOCATION

Needless to say, the strongest effect achieved by a reputation will be in the locality where the reputation was gained. The sphere of influence of a reputation will depend on the foms of communication in use. Mass media, if operating, will enhance the effects of reputation. The Gamesmaster should designate on his map, spheres of influence which are representative of communities in communication to such a degree that a characters reputation will be spread within one. These can be referred to as Reputation Zones. A Reputation Zone may be as small as a building or as large as a country, with steps in between at neighborhood, town/village, city, state, and regional networks of interacting communications. When a character crosses into a new Zone of Reputation, the Gamesmaster should make a Reaction Roll to see if his reputation has preceded him. The chart below shows what roll is needed for the Rep to remain intact. If that level of reaction is not achieved, the character has no reputation in that Reputation Zone. His effective Rep for Recognition Factor enhancement is his normal Total Rep divided by 1 plus the number of Recognition Zones between the Zone he i s currently in and the Zone in which the reputation was made. Characters who move around a lot will require players to maintain several different reputations for them. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be downright advantageous for undercover work. This can lead to interesting consequences if a character is recognized by a non-player character who knows him by sight and reputation from one Zone and only by reputation or positional reputation from another Zone. When the non-player character puts the two together, the fireworks may start.
Other Sources: Other sources of gains in reputation are as

varied as the Gamesmaster wishes. Values are assigned and success rewarded and failure chastised by the award of positive or negative merit respectively. The accomplishment of a deed is only of value to a characters reputation if it is witnessed, or if the story is believed when the tale is told. Even if believed or witnessed, it may not have any significant effect o n a characters reputation. T o represent this variability, the Gamesmaster will roll o n the Reaction table. One-half the Value Number obtained will be used as a multiplier to the merit figure. This may change a positive value to a negative, or vice versa, but that is the nature of a reputation-it is not always based on truth. The Gamesmaster may wish to modify the Reaction Roll if there are no witnesses other than the Player Characters in the party. Such a modification may be a -5 if the Player Characters have evidence to support their claims and twice that if there is no evidence. When a character has accumulated 10 merit points in an area, he will have acquired 1 point of Rep. These merit points may be positive or negative. Thus, a character with 5 positive and 5 negative points of merit as a fighter with guns will have done enough that people have heard of him, but his reputation will be as an indifferent shot with a gun.
POSITIONAL REPUTATION
Sometimes reputation will be attached to a position. Much as the marshal of Tombstone was expected to be a good shot with a six-shooter, a position may indicate that a character is successful in an Area for which reputation can be gained. Such reputation only belongs to the character as long as he is in that position. Optionally, the Gamesmaster may allow some of the glitter of a position to remain with a character after he has left the position. This may decay over time, or simply be a constant value that is afraction of thevalue of the position. The value of Rep points gained by a position may vary. The marshal of Tombstone gains Rep due to the fact that he is a marshal and that the town is which he is marshal is atough town. If someone is unaware that the man at the bar is the marshal (his badge being hidden), he will not be influenced by the Rep of the position of marshal.
REPUTATION CARRYOVER CHART Minimum Reaction necessary

Zone
Reputation built in Contiguous Zone One Zone between Two Zones between Three Zones between
to retain Reputation automatic Mediocre Good Excellent automatic loss
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THE GUN LIST

This contains almost two hundred weapons: sporting and service firearms available in the US to civilians and military. All thestatistics needed to use the gun in Aftermeth! are included, in a format called the Spec Sheet. This includes the following: CODE: A letter and number identification code for the weapon, for convenience in record keeping and random gun generation. All the Codes fall into easily generated die roll ranges. BBL The barrel length, In some cases, as in the listings for Rifles, this is not given for every entry, since a Rifle must have a BBL of over 2 0 to be in that classification. ACTION AL, SA, DA etc. Again, in some cases this is specified for a whole series of entries. Note that some single shot entries are listed as SS/BA, indicating that a Bolt is the means of loading and cocking the gun. MAG: For Magazine. Gives the type of Magazine and its Capacity. CALIBER: The loads the gun will take. For shotguns, this ib given as GAUGE. I f the gun is manufactured in different Calibers, a Frequency number is assigned to each specific Caliber listed. This is usually a D10 roll, although forsomeweaponsa DlOO was necessary, so diverse were the possibities. When a weapon with this type of Caliber entry is generated, roll the appropriate die to see what model you have as regards to Caliber. Shotgun GAUGE entries note whether the gun is designed for standard; Magnum, or Slug loads. DUR: Gives the base Durability score of the weapon. The circumstances in which it is found may alter this. The Foraging Table may indicate that a temporarily reduced DUR is in effect, until the gun is serviced. Or it may even have a DUR equal to 1, due to poor care, or because it is a cheap imitation of the real model, a Saturday Night Special. ENC: Gives the Encumbrance of the weapon. FEATURES: Lists any Features the weapon has or may have. This entry also includes any background information on thegun, special characteristics, and so on. More on this feature in a Book 2 Appendix: About Features.
All you need to arm your Characters to the teeth is in this List. or the attached section on Military Issue Firearms, which provides the same statistics for famous weapons used from WWll to the present (and even the Future). But for all its handiness. we do recommend procuring your own copy of some of the source books in the bibliography, and working out your own gun tables from those. Among other things, they almost always have Pictures of the weapons, which will add immensely to your Players and your own ability to visualize the Campaign more vividly. For another, you may find that you have different feelings about how a given weapon works. Lastly, it gives a more satisfying feel to play to be able to say, I pull my Colt Python 357 Magnum, rather than I am using my P51.
APPENDIX I
BEL: STD ACTION: DA CODE P3 DUR: 4 ENC: .4 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: 38 Special (1-6) 357 Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: 357 Magnum model can also use 38 Special. BEL: LNG ACTION: DA CODE P5 DUR: 4 ENC: .45 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: 38 Special (1-6) 357 Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: 357 Magnum model can also use 38 Special. BEL: STD ACTION: DA CODE: P6 DUR: 3 ENC: .4 MAG: Break 9 CALIBER: 22 Short (1-2) 22 Long (3-5) 22 Long Rifle (6-0) FEATURES: High quality Sights give a t1 to Sighted Fire. CODE: P7 BEL: SHT ACTION: SA MAG: Snap-Cy1 6 DUR: 3 ENC: .3 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Also fires 22 Rimfire Magnum. COOE P8 BEL: STD ACTION: SA DUR: 3 ENC: .4 MAG: Snap-Cy1 6 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Also fires 22 Rimfire Magnum. CODE BEL: LNG ACTION: SA MAG: Snap-Cy1 6 DUR: 3 ENC: .45 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Also fires 22 Rimfire Magnum. COOE: W BEL: XLNG ACTION: SA MAG: Snap-Cy1 6 DUR: 3 ENC: .6 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Also fires 22 Rimfire Magnum.
CODE: P10 MAG: Snap-Cy1 6 CALIBER: FEATURES: COOE: P11 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER:
BEL: Pistol Carbine ACTION: SA DUR: 3 ENC: .85 22 Long Rifle Also fires 22 Rimfire Magnum. BEL: SNUB ACTION: DA DUR: 2 ENC: .25 32 Short (1-4) 32 Long (6-0) FEATURES: None. CODE P12 BEL: SHT ACTION: DA MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 DUR: 2 ENC: .25 CALIBER: 32 Short (1-4) 32 Long (6-0) FEATURES: None.
PISTOLS
REVOLVERS:
CODE P1 BEL: SHT ACTION: DA ENC: .25 DUR: 3 MAG: Snap-Cy1 5 CALIBER: 44 Special (1-3) 38 Special (3-5) 357 Magnum (6-8) 22 Long Rifle (9) 32 Long (0) FEATURES: None. BEL: SNUB ACTION: DA CODE P2 DUR: 3 ENC: .2 MAG: Snap-Cy1 5 CALIBER: 38 Special (1-6) 22 Lona Rifle (7-8) 32 Long (9-0) FEATURES: None. COOE P3 BEL: SNUB ACTION: DA ENC: .25 DUR: 4 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: 38 Special (1-6) 357 Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: 357 Magnum model can also be use 38 Special.
CODE P13 MAG: Break 5 CALIBER: FEATURES: CODE P14 MAG: Snap-Cy1 6 CALIBER: FEATURES: CODE: P15 MAG: Snap-Cy1 6 CALIBER: FEATURES: CODE: MAG:
BEL: SNUB DUR: 2 38 Short None.
ACTION: DA ENC: .27
BEL: SNUB ACTION: DA DUR: 5 ENC: .3 357 Magnum Also fires 38 Special. High quality Sights give+l to Sighted Fire.
COOE: MAG:
ACTION: DA BEL: SHT DUR: 5 ENC: .35 357 Magnum Also fires 38 Special. High quality Sights give +l to Sighted Fire. P16 BEL: STD ACTION: DA ENC: ,451 Snap-Cy1 6 DUR: 5 CALIBER: 357 Magnum FEATURES: Also fires 38 Special. High quality Sights give +1 to Sighted Fire. P17 BEL: SNUB ACTION: DA Snap-Cy1 6 DUR: 5 ENC: .3 CALIBER: 357 Magnum (1-3) 38 Special (4-8) 9mm Parabellum (SO) FEATURES: None.
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CODE: P I 8 BBL: SHT MAG: Snap-Cy1 6 DUR: 5 CALIBER: 357 Magnum (1-3) 38 Special (4-8) 9mm Parabellum (9-0) FEATURES: None. CODE: P I 9 BBL: STD MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 DUR: 4 CALIBER: 41 Magnum FEATURES: None. CODE: P2D BBL: LNG MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 DUR: 4 CALIBER: 41 Magnum FEATURES: None. CODE: P21 BBL: XLNG MAG: Swing cy1 6 6DUR: 4 CALIBER: 41 Magnum FEATURES: None.
ACTION: DA ENC: .4
ACTION: DA ENC: .45
ACTION: DA ENC: .5
357/9mm Parabellum Convertible (4) 45 Lono Colt 6-61 45 Long Colt145-ACP Convertible (7) 44 Magnum (8-0) FEATURES: This is a Match Weapon. It is equipped with Peep Sights giving t1 to BCS and t1 to Aim when using the Sights. Also, the Convertible models listed permit firing either of the specified rounds if the appropriate cylinder is being used. Each convertible weapon will accept a cylinder in either of the Calibers listed. Finally, all 357 models can also use 38 Special and 44 Magnum models can use 44 Special, with no special actions required for the switch.
ACTION: DA ENC: .65
AUTOLOADERS
CODE P31 BBL: SHT ACTION: AL MAG: Box Variable DUR: 2 ENC: .35 CALIBER: 32 ACP 8 Rounds (1-3) 380 ACP 7 Rounds (4-7) 22 Long Rifle (8-0) FEATURES: None. CODE: P32 BBL: SNUB ACTION: AL MAG: Box 6 DUR: 2 ENC: .2 CALIBER: 25 ACP FEATURES: None. CODE: P33 BBL: SHT ACTION: AL MAG: Box Variable DUR: 3 ENC: .37 CALIBER: 32 ACP 12 Rounds 11-3) 380 ACP 13 Rounds (4-6) 9mrn Parabellum 15 Rounds (7-0) FEATURES: None. CODE: P34 BBL: STD ACTION: AL MAG: Box Variable DUR: 3 ENC: .37 CALIBER: 32 ACP 12 Rounds (1-3) 380 ACP 13 Rounds (4-6) 9mm Parabellum 15 Rounds (7-0) FEATURES: None. CODE: P35 BBL: STD ACTION: AL MAG: Box Variable ENC: .38 DUR: 4 CALIBER: 45 ACP 7 Rounds (1-6) 9mm Parabellum 9 Rounds (7-0) FEATURES: None. CODE: P36 BBL: STD ACTION: AL MAG: Box 13 ENC: .35 DUR: 5 CALIBER: 9mm Parabellum FEATURES: Hi-Power weapon - uses High Power ammo at no risk. Safety catch is High Security. Gun cannot discharge when safe even if dropped or struck. CODE P37 BBL: SNUB ACTION: AL MAG: Box 6, 7, or 9 DUR: 4 ENC: .3 CALIBER 45 ACP FEATURES Can use the 7 or 9 round Magazines from ANY other 45 ACP Autoloading Pistol. CODE: P38 BBL: STD ACTION: AL MAG: Box 18 DUR: 3 ENC: .4 CALIBER: 9mm Parabellum FEATURES: Military issue of this model has capability for AB Gun Action. Civilian model given here can be adapted for this use by a Gunsmith. CODE: P39 BBL: STD ACTION: AL MAG: Box 9 DUR: 3 ENC: .42 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Match Weapon. +1 when using Sights. CODE: P40 BBL: SHT ACTION: AL MAG: Box Variable DUR: 2 ENC: .27 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle 9 Rounds (1-2) 32 ACP 8 Rounds (3-6) 380 ACP 7 Rounds (7-0) FEATURES: None.
CODE: P22 BBL: SHT ACTION: DA MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 DUR: 4 ENC: .37 CALIBER: 44 Magnum (1-6) 44 Special (7-0) FEATURES: 44 Magnum also fires 44 Special. CODE: P23 BBL: STD ACTION: DA ENC: .47 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 DUR: 4 CALIBER: 44 Magnum (1-7) 44 Special (8-0) FEATURES: 44 Magnum model also fires 44 Special CODE: P24 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: FEATURES:
BBL: LNG ACTION: DA ENC: .5 DUR: 4 44 Magnum (1-7) 44 Magnum model also fires 44 Special.
CODE P25 BBL: STD ACTION: SA MAG: Port-Cy1 6 DUR: 3 ENC: .45 CALIBER: 357 Magnum (1-3) 44 Special (4) 45 Long Colt (5-8) 44 Magnum (9-0) FEATURES: Replica of Colt 45, the Peacemaker.
BBL: LNG ACTION: SA CODE: P26 MAG: Port-Cy1 6 DUR: 3 ENC: .45 CALIBER: 357 Magnum (1-3) 44 Special (4) 45 Long Colt (5-8) 44 Magnum (9-0) FEATURES: Match weapon. Superior Sights give +1 to Sighted Fire.
CODE: P27 BBL: STD ACTION: SA MAG: Port-Cy1 6 DUR: 2 ENC: .36 CALIBER: 32-20 (1) 38 Long (2-3) 38 Short (4) 38-40 (5-6) 44-40 (7-8) 45 Lorig Colt (9-0) FEATURES: Again, a replica of the frontier Colt 45. The Calibers shown are historically correct CODE: P28 MAG: Port-Cy1 6 CALIBER: FEATURES:
BBL: Pistol Carbine ACTION: SA DUR: 3 ENC: 1.3 45 Long Colt Removable shoulder stock. A replica of the famous Buntline Special, used by Wyatt Earp ACTION: SA ENC: .45
CODE: P29 BBL: STD MAG: Port-Cy1 6 DUR: 2 CALIBER: 22 Short (1) 22 Long (2-3) 22 Long Rifle (4-7) 22 RF Magnum (8-0) FEATURES: None. CODE: P30 BBL: LNG MAG: Port-CY1 6 DUR: 5 CALIBER: 357 Magnum (1-3)
ACTION: SA ENC: .47
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BBL: STD ACTION: AL CODE P41 DUR: 2 ENC: .3 MAG: Box Variable CALIBER: 38 Super Auto 8 Rounds (1-6) 45 ACP 7 Rounds (7-0) FEATURES: None. CODE P42 BEL: STD ACTION: AL MAG: B o x 8 DUR: 4 ENC: .4 CALIBER: 30 (1-4) 9mm Parabellum (5-0) FEATURES: Replica of the Luger. BEL: SNUB ACTION: AL CODE P43 DUR: 2 ENC: .2 MAG: Box Variable CALIBER: 22 Lon9 Rifle 10 Rounds (1-4) .~ 25 ACP-8 Rounds (5-0) FEATURES: May be equipped with conversion kit consisting of the Barrel, Clip, and Bolt of the specified Calibers. This allows the gun to be altered from one to the other. BBL: STD ACTION: AL COOE P44 DUR: 3 ENC: .4 MAG: Box 11 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Luger replica. COOE P45 BEL: STD ACTION: AL MAG: Box 7 DUR: 5 ENC: .5 CALIBER: 44 Magnum (AMP) FEATURES: The ammo fired by this gun acts as 44 Magnum in all respects BUT a special AMP case is needed. Standard 44 Magnum ammo will always Jam the gun. The weapon is made of stainless steel and is known as an Auto-Mag .
BBL: XLNG ACTION: DA CODE P51 DUR: 5 ENC: .62 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: 22 Short (1) 22 Long (2-3) 22 Long Rifle (4-5) 38 Special (6-7) 357 Magnum ( O E ) FEATURES: All models have t1 to AIM using Sighted Fire. 357 Magnum model can also fire 38 Special. BEL: Pistol Carbine ACTION: DA CODE P51 DUR: 5 ENC: .82 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: 22 Short (1) 22 Long (2-3) 22 Long Rifle (4-5) 38 Special (6-7) E ) :57 Magnum ( O FEATURES: All models have t 1 to AIM using Sighted Fire. 357 Magnum model can also fire 38 Special. BBL: LNG ACTION: DA CODE: P53 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 DUR: 5 ENC: .65 CALIBER: 45 ACP FEATURES: High quality Iron Sights give t1 to Sighted Fire BCS. Tapped for Telescopic Sight.
CODE P54 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: FEATURES: CODE P55 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER:
TARGET WEAPONS All the Pistols listed here are Match Weapons!
BEL: STD ACTION: AL CODE: P46 DUR: 4 ENC: .45 MAG: Box 10 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Left or Right Handed Grips. Can be set for Hair Trigger or normal pull. Tunable Gun if used by a Character with the same handedness as grips. BEL: STD ACTION: AL CODE: P47 DUR: 5 ENC: .45 MAG: Box 7 CALIBER: 45 ACP FEATURES: Target model of famous Colt 45 Autoloader. t l to BCS when using Sights. Trigger adjustable to Hair Trigger or normal pull. BEL: STD ACTION: AL CODE: P48 DUR: 5 ENC: .55 MAG: Box 5 CALIBER: 32 Long FEATURES: Tunable gun. t1 to AIM when firing with Siaht. Conversion Kit available to switch to 22Long Rifle.
BBL: STD ACTION: DA DUR: 5 ENC: .5 44 Magnum Tapped for Telescopic Sights. BBL: LNG ACTION: DA DUR: 5 ENC: .43 22 Long Rifle (1-2) 22 RF Magnum o(3-5) 32 Lono 16-7) 38 Special FEATURES: Tunable gun. If Tuned, and fired as a SA gun, the Character receives a bonus as if using Squeeze-Off Option: adds his DFT to his pistol Skill score.
(BO)
TARGET REVOLVERS
ACTION: DA COOE P49 BEL: SNUB ENC: .32 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 DUR: 5 CALIBER: 22 Short (1) 22 Long (2-3) 22 Long Rifle (4-5) 38 Special (6-7) 357 Magnum (8-0) FEATURES: All models have t 1 to AIM using Sighted Fire. 357 Magnum model can also fire 38 Special. BEL: STD ACTION: DA CODE P50 DUR: 5 ENC: .42 MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: 22 Short (1) 22 Long (2-3) 22 Long Rifle (4-5) 38 Soecial 16-71 357Magnum (6-0) FEATURES: All models have t 1 to AIM using Sighted Fire. 357 Magnum model can also fire 38 Special.
CODE: P56 MISCELLANEOUS PISTOLS BBL: Varies ACTION: SA DUR: 4 ENC: Varies MAG: Swing-Cy1 6 CALIBER: 38 Special (1-4) 357 Magnum (5-0) FEATURES: EsuiDped with a special Quick Change Barrel system, the gun may be given a Barrel of ANY size: SNUB up to Pistol Carbine. Barrels must be of P56 type and it takes 10 Actions to accomplish change. The ENC of the gun is .15 t the Base ENC for the BEL size. BBL: SNUB ACTION: SA COOE P57 MAG: Break 2 DUR: 1 ENC: .2 CALIBER: 22 Short (1-3) 38 Special (4-5) 38 Short (6-9) 38 Long (0) FEATURES: This is a Derringer, the hideaway gun of the frontier gambler. It uses Over-Under Barrels which must be turned manually to bring the next round under the hammer. This requires an extra Action. BBL: XLNG ACTION: SS CODE P58 MAG: Break 1 DUR: 5 ENC: .75 CALIBER: 22 Short (01-03) 22 Long (04-05) 22 Long Rifle (06-15) 22 RF Magnum (16-25) 22 Jet (26-35) 357 Magnum (36-50) 38 Special (51-60) 256 Magnum (61-65) see Long Gun Ammo Table 45 Long Colt (66-75) 30-30(76-85) See Long Gun Ammo Table 44 Magnum(86-00) FEATURES: The gun may be adapted to take ANY of the specified rounds. Interchangeable barrels are
74
needed. Gun is grooved to take a Telescopic Sight (Clamp Mounted) and may be provided with a special forearm brace. If equipped with this brace and Tuned, as with Tunable Guns then it will allow the firer to add his DFT to his Pistol Skill as if firing with Squeeze-Off Option.
CODE P S MAG: Falling Block 1 CALIBER: FEATURES:
BBL: XLNG ACTION: BA DUR: 5 ENC: .8 221 Fireball Recoil Reduction. Right or Left-Handed Grips. If used by Character with correct Handedness it i s a Tunable gun. Tapped for Telescopic Sights. BBL: LNGlXLNG DUR: 4 ACTION: SS ENC: .55 with LNG BBL ENC: .7 with XLNG BBL
CODE R5 ACTION: PA MAG: B o x 4 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 CALIBERS: 243 (1-2) 6mm (3-4) 280 (5) 308 (6-7) 30-06 (8-0) FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight mounts. Swivel Sling feature. CODE R6 ACTION: PA MAG: Port-Mag 3 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.2 CALIBER: 30-30(1-6) 35mm (7-0) FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight mounts. CODE: R7 ACTION: AL .MAG: Box 10 or 20 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.5 CALIBER: 7.62mm NATO FEATURES: Commercial replica of M-14. Gunsmith can convert to allow FA fire. Has no provision for bayonet. There is a 20% chance that a specimen of this gun will be a Match Weapon. Takes government issue 4X or 6X Telescopic Sight. CODE: RE ACTION: LA MAG: Tub-Mag 6 DUR: 3 ENC: 1.45 CALIBER: 44-40 (1-6) 357 Magnum (7-0) See Pistol Ammo Table FEATURES: Replica of 1873 Winchester. CODE: R9 ACTION: LA MAG: Tub-Mag 4 DUR: 5 ENC: 1.25 CALIBER: 444 Marlin FEATURES: Swivel Sling. Tapped for Telescopic Sights. CODE R10 ACTION: LA MAG: Port-Mag Var. DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 CALIBER: 300 Magnum 5 Shot (1-3) 243 5 Shot (4-5) 308 5 Shot (6-8) 250 5 Shot (9) 358 6 Shot (0) FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sights. Swivel Sling. Recoil Pad. Magazine is actually a Rotary Magazine, extremely efficient and resistant to jams. Adds t3 to Control BCS even if user has no Control of his own. CODE: R11 ACTION: BA MAG: Box Variable DUR: 4 ENC: 1.5 CALIBER: 25-06 4 Round (1-2) 270 4 Round (3) 30-06 4 Round (4-5) 300 Magnum 3 Round (6-7) 7mm Magnum 3 Round (8-9) 458 Magnum 3 Round (0) FEATURES: Recoil Pad. NO SIGHTS ON GUN! Iron or Telescopic Sights must be mounted by a Gunsmith. CODE R12 ACTION: BA MAG: Port-Mag 5 DUR: 3 ENC: 1.25 CALIBER: 30-06 FEATURES: Recoil Pad. Tapped for Telescopic Sight. Swivel Sling. CODE: R13 MAG: Box 3
ACTION: BA OUR: 3 ENC: 1.2 CALIBER: 222 (1-2) 243 (3-4) 308 (5-7) 22-250 (8) 6mm (9-0) FEATURES: Adjustable trigger can be set for Hair Trigger or normal pull. Tapped for Telescopic Sights. Sling Swivels. ACTION: BA DUR: 3 CALIBER: 7mm Magnum (1-6) 300 Magnum (7-0) ENC: 1.25
CODE Pal MAG: Break 1
CALIBER: 22 Jet (01-05) 221 Fireball (06-15) 25-35 (16-20) See Long Gun Ammo Table 30-30 (21-30) See Long Gun Ammo Table 22 S, L. LR (31-45) 22 RF Magnum (46-55) 222 (56-58) See Long Gun Ammo Table 256 Magnum (59-60) See Long Gun Ammo 9mm Parabellum (61-65) 38 Super Auto (66-67) 357 Magnum (68-75) 38 Special (76-80) 30 Carbine (76-85) See Long Gun Ammo Table 45 ACP (86-90) 44 Maanum (91-96) 45 Long Colt(97-00) FEATURES: Another weapon with interchangeable barrels, both as regards length and caliber. If the appropriate barrel is available, ANY of the above calibers may be fired. Changing barrels requires 10 Actions and changing from CF to RF ammo requires another 10. Apart from this, the gun is tapped for Telescopic Sight mounts.
LONG GUNS Rifles (BBL longer than 207

CODE: R1 ACTION: AL DUR: 4 ENC: 1.4 MAG: Box Variable CALIBER: 243 4 Rounds (1) 270 4 Rounds (2) 30-06 4 Rounds (35) 308 4 Rounds (6-7) 7mm Magnum 3 Rounds (8) 300 Magnum 3 Rounds (90) FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight mounts. t1 to Aim using guns own Sights to fire.
ACTION: AL DUR: 4 ENC: 1.25 CALIBER: 223 FEATURES: Civilian model of the M-16. Can be converted to permit FA fire by a Gunsmith. Uses government magazines, so that M-16 Box 30 clips can be used by this model as well. CODE R3 ACTION: AL MAG: Port-Mag 3 DUR: 3 ENC: 1.25 CALIBER: 308 FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight mount.
CODE R2 MAG: Box 5
CODE R4 MAG: Box 4
ACTION: AL DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 CALIBER: 243 (1-2) 6mm (3-4) 280 (5) 308 (6-7) 30-06 (8-0) FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight mounts. Swivel Sling feature.
COOE: R14 MAG: Box 3
75
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CODE MAG:
CODE MAG:
FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight. Swivel Sling. Trigger is adjustable for Hair Trigger or normal pull. R15 ACTION: BA Port-Mag 3 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.4 CALIBER: 375 Magnum (1-6) 458 Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: Swivel Sling. R16 ACTION: BA Port-Mag Var. DUR: 5 ENC: 1.2 CALIBER: 222 5 Round (1) 22-250 5 Round (2) . 6mm 5 Round (3) 243 5 Round (4) 25-06 5 Round (5) 270 5 Round (6) . 308 5 Round (7) 30-06 5 Round (8) 375 Magnum 3 Round (9) 458 Magnum 3 Round (0) FEATURES: Recoil Pad. Swivel Sling. Tapped for Telescopic Sight. There is a 20% chance that this gun will be a Match Weapon.
CALIBER: 22 Short 20 Rounds 22 Long 17 Rounds 22 Long Rifle 15 Rounds FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. The gun can fire any of the specified Calibers. The only difference is how many rounds of a given size can f it into the Tubular Magazine. CODE R25 ACTION: AL ENC: 1.3 MAG: Box 5.10 or 15 DUR: 4 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. The odds of a gun having any particular size of magazine are even. It can use any of them. ACTION: LA COOE ,R26 ENC: 1.25 MAG: Tub-Mag Var. DUR: 4 CALIBER: 22 Short 22 Round (1-2) 22 Lona 17 Round (3-4) 22 Long Rifle 15 Round (5-9) 22 RF Magnum (0) FEATURES: Hi-Power weapon, using High Power rounds at no extra risk. As with R24, the gun can fire any of the non-Magnum 22 Rimfire cartridges. It simply holds different quantities of them. The frequency numbers given are soley to distinquish between the Magnum and nonMagnum models. Also has Hair Trigger and is tapped for Telescopic Sight. Swivel Sling. COOE A27 ACTION: LA MAG: Tub-Mag Var. DUR: 3 ENC: 1.35 CALIBER: 22 Short 26 Round 22 Long 21 Round 22 Long Rifle 15 Round FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight. Swivel Sling As with other Tub-Mag Variable Capacity magazines the gun can handle any 22 Rimfire round listed, but holds different quantities of them COOE R28 ACTION: LA ENC: 1.3 MAG: Tub-Mag 11 DUR: 4 CALIBER: 22 RF Magnum FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. CODE: R29 ACTION: BA MAG: Box 7 DUR: 3 ENC: 1.2 CALIBER: 22 Short (1-2) 22 Long (3-5) 22 Lona Rifle (6-0) FEATURES: G roovd for Telescopic Sight. CODE A30 ACTION: BA MAG: Box 7 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.4 CALIBER: Any 22 RF non-Magnum FEATURES: Clip can be altered t o accomodate 22 Short, Long or Long Rifle. Grooved for Telescopic Sight. COOE: R31 ACTION: BA MAG: Box 5 DUR: 3 ENC: 1.35 CALIBER: 22 RF Magnum FEATURES: None. COOE R32 ACTION: BA MAG: Box 5 or 10 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.25 CALIBER: 22 Short (1-2) 22 Long (3-5) 22 Long Rifle (6-0) FEATURES: Even chance of gun being found with either clip. It can use both sizes. Also Tapped for Telescopic Sight. GUN HAS NO IRON SIGHTS ON IT! Sighted fire possible only when Sights installed by a Gunsmith. CODE R33 ACTION: BA MAG: Tub-Mag Var. DUR: 4 ENC: 1.2 CALIBER: 22 Short 22 Lono 22 L o n i Rifle FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. As with other Tub-Maa rifles it can use any 22 Rimfire but holds varying amounts of them.
COOE R17 ACTION: SS ENC: 1.35 MAG: Fall-Block 1 DUR: 3 CALIBER: 45-70 FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight. Swivel Sling. CODE R18 ACTION: SS MAG: Fall-Block 1 DUR: 5 ENC: 1.3 CALIBER: 30-06 (1-3) 25-06 (4-5) 6mm (6) 243 (7) 22-250 (8) 7mm Magnum (9-0) FEATURES Taooed for TelescaDic Siaht. Recoil Pad. GUN CODE Rl9 ACTION: SS MAG: Port-Mag 1 DUR: 3 ENC: 1.3 CALIBER: 44 Magnum (1-7) 45-70 (8-0) FEATURES: None. COOE A 2 0 ACTION: SS MAG: Fall-Block 1 DUR: 5 ENC: 1.4 CALIBER: 22-250 (01-10) 243 (11-15) 6mm (16-25) 25-06 (26-30) 270 (31-40) 30-06 (41-55) 7mm Magnum (56-60) 300 Magnum (61-70) 45-70 (71-75) 30-40 Krag (76-80) 458 Magnum (81-85) 375 Magnum (86-00) FEATURES: Swivel Sling. NO IRON SIGHTS ON GUN' Equipped with mounts for Iron or Telescopic Sights. COOE R21 ACTION: AL MAG: Tub-Mag 20 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.2 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. CODE R22 ACTION: PA MAG: Tub-Mag Var. DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle (1-5) 22 RF Maanum (6-0) FEATURES: Grooved h r Telescopic Sights. ACTION: AL .. COOE R23 ENC: 1.3 DUR: 3 MAG: Box 5 CALIBER: 22 RF Magnum FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight. COOE R24 ACTION: AL MAG: Tub-Mag Var. DUR: 4 ENC: 1.25
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CODE R34 MAG: Port-Mag 5 CALIBER: FEATURES: CODE R35 MAG: Box 5
ACTION: BA DUR: 4 ENC: 1.25 22 RF Magnum Grooved for Telescopic Sight.
ACTION: BA DUR: 5 ENC: 1.3 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle (1-4) 22 RF Magnum ($0) FEATURES: Fully adjustable trigger, settable for Hair Trigger or normal pull. Grooved for Telescopic Sight. ACTION: SSlBA DUR: 3 ENC: 1.2 Any 22 Rimfire non-Magnum Equipped with Sights giving +I to Aim when using Sighted Fire. Grooved for Telescopic Sight (if so equipped, the Peep Sight cannot be used).
CODE: R45 ACTION: SSlBA MAG: Fall-Block 1 OUR: 5 ENC: 2 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Sights give t i to Aim when using Sighted Fire. No provision for Sling. Tunable Gun. There is a fully adjustable trigger (Hair Trigger or normal pull).
DOUBLE RIFLES
All of the following Guns are Double-Barreled. Single Shot weapons. A Rllle Barrel is mounted on top of a Shotgun Barrel, or vice-versa. Caliber Is recorded as {Top Barrel / Bottom Barrel). A "12 Ga/30-06" has a 1 2 Gauge Shotgun Barrel on top and a Single-Shot 30-06 Barrel on the bottom. CODE: R46 ACTION: SA MAG: Break 111 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.4 CALIBER: 12 Gal30-06 (1-6) 12 Gal243(7:0)-' FEATURES: Recoil Pad.
CODE A47 MAG: Break 111 CALIBER: FEATURES:
ACTION: SA OUR: 4 ENC: 1.35 12 Gal222 Equipped with changeable Choke Tubes, allowing the Choke on the shotgun barrel to be changed in 10 Actions. Swivel Sling. Grooved for Telescopic Sight. ACTION: SA DUR: 4 ENC: 1.4 12 Gal308 Modified Choke only. Tapped for Telescopic Sight. Recoil Pad. Swivel Sling.
CODE R36 MAG: Fall-Block 1 CALIBER: FEATURES:
CODE: R37
ACTION: SSlBA MAG: Fall-Block 1 DUR: 5 ENC: 1.2 CALIBER: Any 22 Rimfire non-Magnum FEATURES: Equipped with Iron Sights giving t 1 to BCS and Aim when using Sighted Fire. Swivel Sling.
CODE R38 ACTION: SS MAG: Fall-Block 1 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 CALIBER: Any 22 Rimfire non-Magnum (1-6) 22 RF Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. CODE R39 MAG: Break 1 CALIBER: FEATURES: CODE R40 MAG: Fall-Block 1 CALIBER: FEATURES:
ACTION: SS DUR: 4 ENC: 1.25 Any 22 Rimfire non-Magnum Grooved for Telescopic Sight. ACTION: SS DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 22 RF Magnum Grooved for Telescopic Sight. Sling Swivel.
COO R48 MAG: Break 111 CALIBER: FEATURES:
TARGET RIFLES All of the following Rifles have the Match Weapon Feature.
CODE R41 MAG: Fall-Block 1 CALIBER: FEATURES:
ACTION: SS/BA DUR: 5 ENC: 1.7 22 Long Rifle No sling provided for. Has no Iron Sights but can be fitted with Match Sights giving t i to BCS and Aim when using Sighted Fire. Also is a Handed Gun (Right or Left). Can be used as a Tunable Gun by Character with corresponding handedness.
COOE: R49 ACTION: SA MAG: Break 111 DUR: 5 ENC: 1.5 CALIBER: 12 Gal375 Magnum (1-3) 12 Ga Magnum1375 Magnum (4-6) 12 Gal458 Magnum (7-8) 12 Ga Magnum1458 Magnum (9-0) FEATURES: lnterchaneable barrels are available, although it requires a Gunsmith to change them (per barrel: Task Points = 10, Task Period = 2 hours). Tapped for Telescopic Sight. Swivel Sling. Recoil Pad. COOE: R50 ACTION: SA DUR: 3 ENC: 1.3 MAG: Break 111 CALIBER: 22 RF Magnuml20 Ga (1-2) 222120 Ga (3) 30-30120 Ga (4-5) Any 22 Rimfire non-Magnuml410 (E-7) 22 RF Magnum1410 (8-0) FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight.
CARBINES All of the following guns have BEL less than or equal to 20".
COOE: C I MAG: Box 5
ACTION: AL DUR: 3 ENC: 1 CALIBER: 223 FEATURES: Civilian model of M-18 Assault Rifle. 3X Military issue Telescopic Sight. Folding stock. Can be given FA capacity by Gunsmith. Also uses military issue Box 30 magazine.
CODE R42 MAG: Strip 5
ACTION: BA DUR: 5 ENC: 1.5 CALIBER: 7.62mm NATO FEATURES: Match version of M-1 but firing 7.62mm instead of 30-06. No Iron Sights but can have these or Match Sights mounted by a Gunsmith. Swivel Sling.
COOE R43 MAG: B o x 7
ACTION: EA DUR: 5 ENC: 1.4 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Iron Sights give t i to Aim. Grooved for Telescopic Sight but this precludes using Iron Sights. Also has adjustable trigger (Hair Trigger or normal pull).
CODE: C2 ACTION: AL MAG: Box 5, 10,20, 30DUR: 5 ENC: 9 CALIBER: 223 FEATURES: Can be converted to FA Action by Gunsmith. Swivel Sling. CODE: C3 MAG: Tub-Mag 4 CALIBER: FEATURES: COOE: C 4 MAG: Box 4
ACTION: AL DUR: 5 ENC: .9 44 Magnum Swivel Sling. Peep Sight gives +I to Aim for Sighted Fire. Tapped for Telescopic Sight.
CODE: R44 ACTION: EA MAG: Port-Mag 5 DUR: 5 ENC: 1.6 CALIBER: 222 (1-2) 222 Magnum (3-5) 223 (6-8) 7.62mm NATO (9-0) FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight. No Iron Sights No provision for Sling. Some models (30%) have Hair Trigger.
ACTION: LA DUR: 4 ENC: 1 CALIBER: 243 (1-2) 308 (3-6) 358 Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: Recoil Pad. Tapped for Telescopic Sight.
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CODE c5 ACTION: LA MAG: Tub-Mag 6 DUR: 3 CALIBER: 30-30 (1-7) 35 (8-0) FEATURES: None.
ENC: 1.2
FEATURES: This is a Double Carbine, having a 410 Caliber shotgun barrel mounted under a 22 Carbine barrel. It is also a skeleton gun like C15.
SHOTGUNS
CODE SG1 MAG: Break 2
ACTION: SA DUR: 3 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-6) 20 Ga Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: None. CODE SG2 ACTION: SA MAG: Break 2 DUR: 5 GAUGE: 10 Ga Magnum FEATURES: Recoil Pad. ENC: 1.6
CODE C6 ACTION: LA ENC: .8 MAG: Tub-Mag 4 DUR: 3 CALIBER: 44-40 (1-4) 357 Magnum (5-0) FEATURES: None. CODE c7 ACTION: BA ENC: 1.2 MAG: Port-Mag 5 DUR: 5 CALIBER: 22-250 (1-2) 6mm (3) 243 (4) 270 (5-6) 30-06 (7-9) 308 (0) FEATURES: Tapped for Telescopic Sight. ACTION: AL CODE C8 DUR: 3 ENC: .75 MAG: Box 8 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: A specially designed survival and packers weapon. The barrel, main body, and buttstock of the weaoon can be broken down into separate pieces. The first two pieces fit into a carrying compartment in the stock. CODE c9 MAG: Tub-Mag 9 CALIBER: FEATURES:
ACTION: AL ENC: .9 DUR: 4 22 Long Rifle Grooved for Telescopic Sight.
ENC: 1.8
CODE: SG3 MAG: Break 2
ACTION: SA DUR: 5 GAUGE: 10 Ga Magnum (1) 12 Ga Magnum (2-3) 20 Ga Magnum (4) 410 Magnum (5) 12 Ga (6-0) FEATURES: Recoil Pad. ACTION: SA DUR: 4 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-4) 16 Ga (5-6) 20 Ga (7) 12 Ga Magnum (8) 16 Ga Magnum (9) 20 Ga Magnum (0) FEATURES: None.
ENC: 1.6
ENC: 1.5
CODE c 1 0 ACTION: AL MAG: Port-Mag 10 DUR: 5 ENC: .9 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Tapped and Grooved for Telescopic Sight. Swivel Sling. CODE c11 ACTION: LA MAG: Tub-Mag 15 DUR: 3 ENC: .85 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. CODE c12 ACTION: LA MAG: Tub-Mag Var. DUR: 3 ENC: 1 CALIBER: 22 Short 21 Rounds 22 Long 16 Rounds 22 Long Rifle 15 Rounds FEATURES: Swivel Sling. Tapped for Telescopic Sight. CODE C13 ACTION: BA MAG: Box 5 DUR: 4 ENC: .85 CALIBER: 22 RF Magnum FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. CODE C14 ACTION: PA DUR: 4 ENC: .8 MAG: Box 5 CALIBER: 22 Long Rifle (1-6) 22 RF Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: Grooved for Telescopic Sight. Swivel Sling. CODE C15 ACTION: SS MAG: Port-Mag 1 DUR: 2 ENC: .75 CALIBER: Any 22 Rimfire non-Magnum FEATURES: A skeleton stock weapon. Made of light alloys, the gun resembles a tube with the outline of a stock at one end. CODE C16 MAG: Fall-Block 1 CALIBER: FEATURES: CODE C17 MAG: Fall-Block 1 CALIBER: FEATURES:
ACTION: SS DUR: 4 ENC: .95 Any 22 Rimfire non-Magnum None. ACTION: SS DUR: 3 22 RF Magnum None. ENC: 1
AUTOLOAOING SHOTGUNS
CODE: SG5 ACTION: AL MAG: Tub-Mag 5 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.5 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-4) 20 Ga (56) 12 Ga Magnum (7) 20 Ga Magnum (8) 12 Ga Slug (9) 20 Ga Slug (0) FEATURES: Interchangeable barrels available, permitting alteration of Choke. Must be SG5 barrel. CODE SG6 ACTION: AL DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 MAG: Tub-Mag 5 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-3) 20 Ga (4-5) 12 Ga Magnum (6) 20 Ga Magnum (7) 12 Ga Slug (8-9) 20 Ga Slug (0) FEATURES: Recoil Pad. Swivel sling. CODE SG7 ACTION: AL MAG: Tub-Mag 4 DUR: 5 ENC: 1.6 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-4) 20 Ga (5-6) 12 Ga Magnum (7-8) 20 Ga Magnum (9-0) FEATURES: Quick-change Choke tubes inserted in barrel an alter Choke setting in 10 Actions (5 to remove Choke, 5 t o insert new one). Recoil Pad. CODE SG8 ACTION: AL MAG: Tub-Mag 5 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.5 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-2) 20 Ga (3-5) 20 Ga Magnum (6-7) Slug (8-0) FEATURES: All barrels interchangeable to alter Choke. Has built in Recoil Reduction of 1. CODE SG9 ACTION: AL MAG: Tub-Mag 5 DUR: 5 GAUGE: 12 Ga Magnum (1-5) 12 Ga Slug (6-0)
ENC: 1
CODE C l 8 ACTION: SA MAG: Break 1/ 1 DUR: 2 ENC: .8 CALIBER: 22 Long Riflel410 Magnum
---
FEATURES: This is a short-barrled Riot Gun, acting like a Carbine as regards BDG. Such weapons are legally restricted to Police in our own culture.
SINGLE SHOT SHOTGUNS

ACTION: SS DUR: 4 ENC: 1.5 GAUGE: 10 Ga (01-10) 10 Ga Magnum (11-15) 12 Ga (16-45) 12 Ga Magnum (61-70) 16 Ga (61-70) 16 Ga Magnum (71-80) 20 Ga (81-85) 20 Ga Magnum (86-90)
CODE SGlO ACTION: AL MAG: Tub-Mag 3 DUR: 4 ENC: .8 GAUGE: 12 Ga Magnum (1-4) 12 Ga Slug (5) 10 Ga (6-8) 10 Ga Slug ($0) FEATURES: Another Riot Gun, fitted with a Folding Stock, allowing it to be fired with Pistol Skill. A very mean looking gun, it is colloquially known as a Room Broom.
410 (91-95) 410 Magnum (96-00)

FEATURES: Recoil pad. Changeable barrels to alter Choke.
PUMP ACTION SHOTGUNS

CODE: SGll ACTION: PA MAG: Tub-Mag 5 DUR: 4 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-6) 20 Ga Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: Recoil Pad.
ENC: 1.5
ACTION: PA CODE SG12 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 MAG: Tub-Mag 5 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-4) 16 Ga (5-7) 20 Ga (8-0) FEATURES: t l to Aim with Sighted Fire, due to special, transluscent Sight with Peep function.
ACTION: SS DUR: 4 GAUGE: 10 Ga Slug (1-2) 12 Ga Slug (3-6) 16 Ga Slug (7-8) 20 Ga Slua (91 410 slug (0) FEATURES: None.
ENC: 1.6
DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS Gun has Two Barrels mounted one on top of another
ACTION: SA DUR: 3 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-6) 20 Ga Magnum (7-0) FEATURES: None. ACTION: SA DUR: 5 GAUGE: 10 Ga Magnum FEATURES: Recoil Pad. ACTION: SA DUR: 5 GAUGE: 10 Ga Magnum (1) 12 Ga Magnum (2-3) 20 Ga Magnum (4) 410 Magnum (5) 12 Ga (6-0) FEATURES: Recoil pad. ACTION: SA DUR: 4 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-4) 16 Ga (5-6) 20 Ga (7) 12 Ga Magnum (8) 16 Ga Magnum (9) 20 Ga Magnum (0) FEATURES: None. ENC: 1.6
COOE: SG13 MAG: Tub-Mag 5 GAUGE: FEATURES: CODE SG14 MAG: Tub-Mag 5 GAUGE: GAUGE: FEATURES:
ACTION: PA DUR: 4 ENC: 1.7 12 Ga Magnum Interchangeable barrels for different Chokes. Recoil pad. ACTION: PA DUR: 4 ENC: 1.8 12 Ga Slub 12 Ga Slug Recoil pad. Beaded Sight gives t1 to Aim with Sighted Fire.
CODE: 22 MAG: Break 2
ENC: 1.8
ENC: 1.6
ACTION: PA CODE: SG15 DUR: 5 ENC: 1.5 MAG: Tub-Mag 5 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-3) 12 Ga Magnum (4-5) 20 Ga (6-7) 20 Ga Magnum (8-9) 410 Magnum (0) FEATURES: Interchangeable Choke Tubes available, same models as used with SG7. Recoil pad. ACTION: PA COOE: SG16 DUR: 4 ENC: 1 MAG: Tub-Mag 5 GAUGE: 12 Ga (1-3) 12 Ga Magnum (4-5) 10 Ga (6-8) 10 Ga Slug (9) 12 Ga Slug (0) FEATURES: A Riot Gun. Swivel Sling
ENC: 1.5
AFTERMATH! MILITARY ISSUE FIREARMS

The following specifications quantize certain military and police weapons in general use in the U.S. (or available from its allies) between WWll and the Ruin.
BOLT ACTION SHOTGUNS

COOE: SG17 MAG: B o x 2
GAUGE: FEATURES: COOE: SG18 MAG: Box3 GAUGE: ACTION: BA DUR: 4 ENC: 1.8 10 Ga (1-4) 10 Ga Maanurn (5-7) 10 Ga S l u i (8-0) Swivel Sling. ACTION: BA DUR: 4 ENC: 1.4 12 Ga (1-4) 12 Ga Slug (5-7) 410 Ga (8-9) 410 Ga Slug (0) Gun is fitting with a Variable Choke device on non-Slug models. This permits user to set for a given Choke in 1 Action by turning a small dial around the muzzle. Swivel Sling. Recoil pad. Slug firing models have high quality Iron Sights given t l to Aim using Sighted Fire.
RIFLE, ASSAULT RIFLES, AND CARBINES:

M-1 Garand Rille ACTION: AL MAG: Strip 8 CALIBER: 30-06 DUR: 4 ENC: 1.5 FEATURES: Auto-extractor. Bayonet lug. Takes adapter to fire M-1 Rifle Grenade. M-1 Carbine ACTION: AL CALIBER: 30 Carbine DUR: 4 FEATURES: Auto extractor.
MAG: Box 15 or 30 ENC: .9
FEATURES:
MIA1 Carbine ACTION: AL MAG: Box 15 or 30 CALIBER: 30 Carbine DUR: 4 ENC: .9 FEATURES: Auto-extractor. May be equipped with Folding Stock. M-14Rifle ACTION: AL-FA MAG: Box20 CAL: 7.62 NATO (308) DUR: 5 ENC: 1.4 FEATURES: Auto-extractor. Bayonet lug. Can be fitted with bipod for Rest Weapon Modifier. Takes Adapter device to fire M-14 Rifle Grenade.
79
ACTION: AL-FA MAG: Box 20 or 30 M-16 Rllle DUR: 4 ENC: 1.3 CAL: 5.56 (223) FEATURES: Auto-extractor. Bayonet lug. Can be fitted with Bipod for Rest Weapon Modifier. 22mm Grenade Launcher built into Flash Hider. Takes military issue Telescopic Sight, StarLight Scope, or I-R Scope. Can be fitted with under-slung 40mm Grenade Launcher. MAG: Box 20 or 30 Colt Cammando Carbine ACTION: AL-FA DUR: 4 ENC:1 CAL:~5.56mm FEATURES: Folding Stock. Auto-extractor. Flash Hider. ACTION: AL-FA-AB MAG: BOX 30 M-18 Rifle DUR: 5 ENC: 1.2 CAL: 5.56mm FEATURES: Auto-extractor. Bayonet lug. Can be fitted with Bipod. 22mm Grenade Launcher built into Flash Hider. Can take military issue Telescopic Sight, Star-Light Scope, or I-R Scope. Can be fitted with underslung 40mm Grenade Launcher. Date of issue - 1985. M-22 Rifle ACTION: AL-FA-AB MAG: BOX30 CAL: 5.56mm OUR: 5 ENC: 1.3 FEATURES: Auto-extractor. Bayonet lug. Can be fitted with Bipod. 22mm Grenade Launcher. Flash Hider. Takes military issue Telescopic, StarLight. or I-R Sights. Has Built-in LEO Peep Sight. Supermachine Gun rate of autofire: 06 per Burst. Can be equipped with Laser Sight or 40mm Grenade Launcher in underslung position. Folding Stock, allows fire with Pistol Skill, but Rifle characteristics (two hands required for proper use). High Power Feature. Date of issue 1995.
SUB-MACHINE GUNS
Thompson M192BA1 BEL: XLNG ACTION: AL-FA MAG: Drum 50 CAL: 45 ACP OUR: 3 ENC: 1.2 FEATURES: The famous "Tommy Gun," introduced late in WWI and beloved of both the cobs and robbers of the "Roaring 20s." Although it has a Pistol size barrel. it is fired using Rifle Skill (averaged with Autoweapon when firing automatic). A number of models (40%) are equipped with the Cutts Compensator, an anti-recoil device mounted at the mouth of the barrel giving a Recoil Reduction of 2. ACTION: AL-FA Thompson M1A1 Automatic Carbine MAG: Box 20 or 30 CAL: 45 ACP OUR: 4 ENC: 1.2 FEATURES: This is the later, massproduced version of the Thompson which saw extensive service in WWII. It has no special Features. ACTION: FA M3A1 Sub-Machine Gun BBL: XLNG MAG: Box 30 CAL: 45ACP OUR: 4 ENC: 1 FEATURES: Folding Stock. The "Grease Gun" developed during WWII.
Other contemporary SMGs of note are to be found in the US, although often Illegally.
lThe following 2 weapons are made by FN In Belguim. and are widely used by NATO forces] ACTION: AL-FA FAL Assault Rifle MAG: Box 20 CAL: 7.62mm NATO OUR: 4 ENC: 1.45 FEATURES: Auto-extractor. Bayonet lug.
FAR Assault Carbine ACTION: AL-FA-AB MAG: Box 20 or 30 CAL: 7.62mm NATO OUR: 5 ENC: .9 FEATURES: Auto-extractor. Foldina Stock. 22mm Grenade Launcher in Flash Hider. Can take Bipod for Rest Weapon Modifier.
lThe next 2 are of British manufacture. being their standard WWll and modern infantry weapons.) Mk.4 Rifle ACTION: AL MAG: Box 10 CAL: 7.62mm NATO DUR: 5 ENC: 1.4 FEATURES: Bayonet lug. Auto-extractor. This is the "final generation" of the old Lee-Enfield. EM-2 Carbine ACTION: AL-FA MAG: Box20 CAL: 5.56mm OUR: 4 ENC: 1.1 FEATURES: Auto-extractor. Folding stock. 22mm Grenade Launcher in Flash Hider. Can take military issue Telescopic, Star-Light, or I-R Scopes. This is a bit of speculative writing, as the weapon is currently still in trials. Date of issue: 1983.
PISTOLS
There are only two that really need to be discussed: the Colt .45 M1911 A1 and Its 9mm counterpart. the Browning High Power. BEL: STD ACTION: AL M1911A1 CAL: .45ACP DUR: 5 MAG: Box 7 ENC: .4 FEATURES: None. BBL: STD ACTION: AL Browlng High Power CAL: 9mm Parabellum OUR: 4 MAG: Box 13 ENC: .4 FEATURES: High Power weapon. Some models have a Detachable Stock, allowing Rifle Skill to be used to fire the gun.
Uzl SMG BEL: XLNG ACTION: AL-FA MAG: Box 25, 32 or 40 CAL: 9mm Parabellum OUR: 3 ENC: .0 FEATURES: Removable wooden stock or Folding Wire stocks, depending on the model. When in Pistol configuration, the balance of the Uzi permits normal, one-handed use, with no penalties normally accruing to firing Rifle class weapons in that manner. It is probably the commonest modern SMG in the world, manufactured under license in a number of countries. MP-40 BBL: XLNG ACTION: AL-FA MAG: Box 32 CAL: 9mm Parabellum OUR: 3 ENC: .9 FEATURES: Folding stock. This is the standard German SMG of WWII. Well constructed, at least in the early years of the war, a number of them have found their way into this country as souvenirs and collector's pieces, where loving care keeps them at their deadly best. Mk.2 Sten BBL: XLNG ACTION: FA MAG: Box 32 CAL: 9mm Parabellum DUR: 2 ENC: .8 FEATURES: Folding stock. Specially made socket bayonet made for the Sten. Silencers for some models are available. The Sten was the "tin tommy gun" of the British infantry in WWII. Almost 250.000 were produced during the war and in tha decade following. MAC-10 BBL: STO ACTION: AL-FA CAL: 45ACP OUR: 3 MAG: Box 30 ENC: .6 MAC-11 Same specifications as MAC-10 but fires 9mm Parabellum FEATURES: The MAC-10 and 11 represent a new. nonmilitary application of the SMG idea. The size of an ordinary pistol. the MAC series are not suitable for battlefield use, but are ideal for police, security, and espionage activities. Both the MAC-10 and MAC-11 are equipped with Folding Stocks. and may be fitted wrth an extremely efficient silencer. although autofire through the silencer is not recommended.
80
American 180 MAG: Drum 177 ENC: 1.2
BBL: Carbine CAL: 22 Stinger
ACTION: AL-FA DUR: 4
Those not oriented to a Caliber may be used to repair other models. If necessary, one form of gun can be altered into another, given time (a Task for a Gunsmith).
Mauser MG1 MAG: Disintegrating Link Belt 50 or BoxlBelt 100 (A prepared ammo box holding a Link Belt) DUR: 3 ENC: 5.8 CAL: 7.62 NATO RATE: 1200 RpM RATE FACTOR: 2D5 x .5 FEATURES: Tripod mount only, in order to support that appalling rate of fire. This was the standard MG of the Third Reich, and remains in service in Third World and Insurgent forces today. It is a lethal engine and far from outdated. These provide a sampling of the many types of Machine Guns now known. The Gamesmaster should not cast these lightly into his Campaign. for their tremendous lethality can unbalance his scenarios beyond even his wildest fears. But they should not be ignored. Even in a "scarce ammo economy." the Machine Gun will have its users.
BBL: XLNG American 180 Machine Pistol ENC: .9 Other specs as above Introduced for police work i n 1974, the American 180 Carbine, or its pistol-size cousin, the 180 Machine Pistol, both fall into the "Supermachine Gun" class, firing a Burst of 6 rounds instead of the normal 3 rounds. If hit by the weapon, a D6 is rolled to see how many slugs actually got in. As 22 Stinger is simply a super-high velocity 22 Long Rifle round, the weaDon can also fire that ammo, but does so as a normal SMG. (3 RoundslBurst) Other Features include a Recoil Reduction of 1. Ammo is fed from a flat Drum maaazine attached to the toD of the receiver. The gun is specifically deigned to accept a Laser Sight, but i s equipped with normal Iron Sights as well. The authors have seen film clips of this little buzz saw in action. It was used to cut a Volkswagen in two, and after that, the demonstrator wrote his initials on a brick wall. Longhand. It is really a remarkable weapon.
MACHINE GUNS
These are 7 of the best known machine guns in use since WWII. They range from the standard US weapons of that period to the Heckler and Koch guns used by NATO forces. All may be vehicle mounted. 30 Caliber Browning Med. MG MAG: Disintegrating Link or Fabric Belt 250 CAL: 30 Browning DUR: 4 ENC: 7 RATE: 450 RpM RATE FACTOR: D6x.5 FEATURES: Tripod mounted in most (80%) cases. Others use a beefed up Bipod. M60 GPMG MAG: Disintegrating Link Belt 250 CAL: 7.62mm NATO OUR: 5 ENC: 5.2 RATE: 600 RpM RATE FACTOR: 2D3 x .5 FEATURES: The current standard MG used by the US Armed Forces. Can be Bipod or Tripod mounted. Browing M 2 HMG MAG: Metal Link Belt 100 CAL: 50 OUR: 4 ENC: 14.1 RATE: 450 RpM RATE FACTOR: D6 x .5 FEATURES: Mounted on tripod. Bren LMG MAG: Box 30 or Drum 50 or 100 CAL: 7.62 NATO DUR: 4 ENC: 4.35 RATE: 480 RpM RATE FACTOR: 06 x .5 FEATURES: Bipod fitted. Easily man portable (subject to Encumbrance rules). A Section Support weapon designed for mobility. SIG 710-3 GPMG MAG: Disintegrating or Metal Link Belt 250 CAL: 7,62 NATO DUR: 5 ENC: 4.82 RATE: 800 RpM RATE FACTOR: 0.19 x .5 SUSTAINED: 1400 RpM 205 x .5 FEATURES: One of the current NATO machine gun systems. It can be Bipod mounted in its lower Rate role, but the Sustained Fire requires Tripod mounting to hold the gun sufficiently steady. HK 21 LMG MAG: BOX20 or Drum 80 or Disintegrating Link Belt 250 CAL: 5.56rnm HK 21 GPMG CAL: 7.62 NATO HK 21 HMG CAL: 7.62 x 39mm DUR: 5 ENC: 3.65 RATE: 850 RpM RATE FACTOR: D10 x .5 FEATURES: The newest thing in MG systems. Usually Bipod mounted, almost ALL the parts of the weapon in either mode are interchangeable.
81
APPENDIX 2 RANDOM FIREARMS DETERMINATION

HOW T O USE THE GUN LIST
The most direct use of the Gun List is quite simple: there are 60 Pistols, 50 Rifles, 18 Carbines, and 24 Shotguns on the tables. Determine the kind of gun required on the index given below, and then roll a die of the appropriate type for the number of possible choices (i.e. roll a D60 if you need a Pistol, a D50 for a Rifle, and so on). The die roll is the Code number from the Gun List. If other rolls need to be made, such as the Frequency roll for Caliber if the guh is made in more than one size, then roll that die. When all the extra determinants, the break down on the Gun List are as follows: Plrtolr-Contains 30 Revolvers. 15 Autoloaders. 10 Target weapons. 5 Miscellaneous. Rifler-Contains 40 regular weapons. 5 Target weapons. 5 "Double" Rifles. Carbines-Contains no differentiated types. Shotguns-Contains 4 Double Barreled. 6 Autoloading. 5 Pump Action. 2 Bolt Action. 4 Over-Under. So if you really want a Revolver, specifically, then roll a 030 for the Code number. A Dl5 plus 30gives you the Code for an Autoloader, a D10 plus 45 for a Target Pistol, and so on. SUBSIDIARY DIE ROLLS When you just want a random determination on a gun, roll DlOO and consult this table. Dle Roll 01-30 31-50 51-70 71-90 90-00 Pistol Rifle Carbine Shotgun Military Issue Weapon
Roll Die For Gun Llrt Code
Sight Ouallty and Other Characterlstka When a Telescopic sight is found installed on a gun or separately, a roll is needed to determine its construction and qualities. Magniflcatlon-The scope has a magnifying power of 2D3x. I.e.,roll 2, you have a 2x scope, reducing the effective range to the target by a factor of 2. Light Efflclency-Roll a D3. This establishes a Light Efficiency Level. Level 1-May be used in any Light better than darkness. Level 2-May only be used in Light Level of Dim or better. Level 3-May only be used in Full Light. Mountlng-This need not be rolled for if scope is found mounted, since it will have the correct type mount for the gun it is on. For scopes found separately, roll on the following table. Dle Roll Mounting 1-4 Tap Mounts. Goes on any gun Tapped for Telescopic Sights. 5-7 Groove Mounts. There is a 60% Chance such a scope is a " T i p off" model. That is, it can be tipped to the side allowing the shooter to use his Iron Sights should he prefer to, without removing the Telescopic Sight. 8-9 Military Mounts. Fits any Military Issue Rifle or Carbine designated as taking Telescopic Sights. 0 Clamp Mounts. Can be fitted to any firearm of the correct size (Pistol or Long Gun). Reticule-There is a flat 40% chance that Telescopic Sights will have a Reticule (or Cross Hairs). This allows plus one to Aim (ie. Hit Location movement) when using sighted fire. Plrtol Slghtr-There are Telescopic Sights made for Pistols as well as Long Guns. I f random determination is desired, assume a 20% chance of finding them on a gun, or that sights found separately are Pistol rather than Long Gun sights. Mllltary Weapons DetermiMtlon Table When random determination for Military Issue weapons is necessary, first roll for the overall class of the gun, and then forthe specific model. Weapon Type Tablc Roll 1D10 Die Roll Result Rifle, Assault Rifle, or Carbine 1-6 Sub-Machine Gun 7-8 Pistol 9-0
Rifle Table: Roll 1D30 Die Roll Result
The Gun List can also be used to determine ammunition found scavenging, or available for barter. Roll on the above table for the type of ammo, then roll normally for as many kinds of ammo as you need. The Caliber or Gauge of the weapon is the ammo present. It then remainsto find out how much has been found and what, if any, special qualities it may have. Ammo Ouantltler Die Roll Quantity 01-05 1 Round. 06-10 D6 Rounds. 11-30 3D6 Rounds. 31-60 020 plus 20 Rounds. 61-80 1 Box of 25 Rounds. 81-90 1 Box plus DlOO Rounds. 91-00 D6 Boxes of Rounds. Ammo Oualltles Dle Roll Ball Ammo Standard 01-60 61-75 Hollow Point 76-85 Jacketed 86-95 High Power 96-00 Fragmenting
If Clips are sought. either when a clip or clips is found. or wnen they are being bartered for, roll on the Autoloading weapons Gun List of the appropriate type. If clips are found, there is a flat 30% chance of finding Military Issue magazines. Then roll to see the model on that List. Shotgun Choke Determlnation Whenever a Shotgun is found, bartered, or otherwise appears on the scene, the Gamesmaster may use the following system to determine the Choke on it, unless it is a Riot Gun (always Open Choke) or a Slug Gun (always Slug Choke). Roll a D6 as shown below. If the weapon is a Double-Barreled or Over-Under model, roll again for the second barrel, adding the indicated modifier. The usual pattern in shotgun manufacture is to have one barrel with a fairly r loose Choke (Open o Modified) for the first, closer shot, and a tighter Choke on the second, if a longer range shot at fleeing game is required. 2nd Die Roll Modlfler Die Roll Choke Full +1 1-2 Modified +O 3-4 Open -1 5-6 This may also be applied to such as spare barrels fora shotgun, or insertable Choke Tubes, or Choke devices.
1-5 M-1 Garand Rifle 6-8 M-1 Carbine 9-10 M1A2 Carbine 11-14 M-14 Rifle 15-17 M-16 Rifle 18-19 Colt Commando Carbine 20-21 M-18 Rifle 22 M-22 Rifle 23-25 FAL Assault Rifle 26-27 FAR Assault Carbine 28-29 Mk.4 Rifle 30 EM-2 Carbine Sub-Machine Gun Table: Roll 1030 Die Roll Result 1-2 Thompson M1928A1 3-7 Thompson M l A l 8-12 M3A1 SMG 13-16 UZI SMG 17-19 MP-40 20-24 Mk.2 Sten 25-26 MAC-10 27-28 MAC-11 29 American 180 Carbine 30 American 180 Machine Pistol Pistol Table: Roll 1D10 Die Roll Result 1-6 M1911A1 7-0 Browning High Power
No tables are given for other, heavier weapons, as we do not feel random assignment is valid in their case. If firepower like that is going to appear in the Campaign, it should be as a result of careful planning.
a2
APPENDIX 3 0ESIG NING FIR EAR MS

This appendixgives an overview of howvalues werearrivedat, and how weapons not given here may be inserted in the Campaign. Finding The Model
It is really necessary to locate a moderately detailed description of the gun. I n the Bibliography, we list several highly useful sourcebooks of weapon statistics which wiH provide the information necessary to work out the game-version of the gun. The model should provide the weapons Weight, Barrel Length, Caliber, Rates of Fire, indications of the type of Magazine used, and notes regarding any gamable Features. One fact that is N O T going to b e found in any reference book is the DURABILITY of a given weapon. This is entirely i n the hands of the Gamesmaster. It is difficult to prescribe a method for determining the Durability. Any manufacturer worth his salt is going to claim his product has a score of 5. Gun-fanciers will differ widely on the subject, each favoring his ideal weapon o r most admired gunmaker. For commercial guns, one possible guideline is the price. We have tended t o assign higher Durability to the more expensive weapons. But this can result in giving too low a value to a well-made but inexpensive gun. For convenience, the DUR=1 is only encountered in weapons found as U-1 loot (ie. low-value treasure). The DUR=5 score is restricted to late-model military weapons and ultra-high quality commercial ones. If you need a figure in between, roll a D3 and add 1. If dealing with one of the giants in the gunmakers field, Smith and Wesson, or Colt, add 2 instead. Treat rolls of over4 as 4.
has a Barrel Length o f just under 20, but we feel it operates in the Rifle class.) ACTION: BA MAG: Port-Mag 5 (This is the correct classification for any integral, top- or bottom-loading magazine.) CALIBER: 222 (1-3), 30-30 (4-6). 30-06 (7-0) (The frequency numbers for the caliber are again a judgement call for the Gamesmaster. I n this case, the idea is an even split between the two smaller cartridges, but giving the lions share to the30-06, the most popular rifle load in the US.) DUR: 3 (The weapon is made by a top-rated firm, but is not nearthe top of their line. It will not b e junk, but it is not going to be better than average either. So, a 3 seems called for.) ENC: 1.25 (Base ENC for Rifles is 1. The rifle weights 5.5 Ib. The weight in kg is 5.5/2.2, which is exactly 2.5. 2.5/10=.25, therefore the ENC of this gun is 1+.25=1.25.) FEATURES: The relevant ones are the Tapped for Telescopic Sights, Recoil Pad, and Swivel sling elements in the guns design. Any other unique characteristics about the weapon would be noted here as well.
Special Weapons
There are numerous guns that, for one reason or another, do not fit exactly into the Aftermath! simulation. usually, there is an equivalent mechanic in the game to allow for them. For example, Double-Barreled Shotguns are not exactly Single-Action weapons, but as far as Aftermath! is concerned, they handle as if they were, and they are so classified on the G u n Table. When a unique weapon is encountered, such as the American 180 described on Page 81, it is best to do as we have done and write rules dealing specifically with that weapon. They usually justify the trouble, in that they are special cases, giving the user some advantage which should be carefully quantified for the most faithful simulation, There are also cases where the thing just does not look right! The ENC is not high enough, or the weapon should act differently than its mere physical specs indicate, if it is to perform i n the way it should. The answer here issimple: the Gamesmaster alters the Spec Sheet to suit the image he has of the weapon, rather than its (usually brief) outline in the source book used.
Designing The Spec Sheet

With a Durability score selected, all the rest falls neatly into place. All the main items of information required in the model translate directly into Aftermath! conventions. This can best be illustrated by taking a well-known gun and designing the Specs for it. The best known autoloading oistol in modern use is undoubtedly the Colt .45 Mk. IV, or M1911A1. It is a standard sidearm of the United States Armed Forces. Opening Modern Small Arms, by Major Frederick Myatt. Crescent Books, 1978, we find the following information: Length: 8.5 Weight:30oz. (1.1 kg) Barrel:5 Caliber:45ACP Magazine Capacity: 7. There is more, but these are all we need for the moment. Looking at the specifications for Pistols, we find that the BBL f o r a 5 weapon is STD. While the source book does not actually specify that the Colt is autoloading, we know that it is. So the Action is coded AL. The picture of the weapon shows us its clip, so we can indicate the Magazine as a Box 7, the capacity being given in the book. Caliber in Aftermath! is the same as the real Caliber. The Base ENC for STD Pistols is .3. The real weight of the gun divided by 10 is (1.1kg/lO), or .11. This can be rounded to .1 for convenience. So the ENC of the weapon is .3+.1, or .4. The Spec Sheet for the Aftermath! model of this weapon is now: NAME: M1911A1 BBL: STD ACTION: AL MAG: B o x 7 CALIBER: 4 5 A C P DUR: 5 ENC: .4 How d i d we arrive at the maximum Durability? Well, the M1911Al is one of the toughest firearms in the world. It has been used under the worst conditions in the field, and performed reliably. Its rugged frame is highly resistant to damage. With this knowledge, it seemed fitting to make it DUR=5. As a principal military arm, it would at least have been given a 4, were the authors not familiar with its history. It only remains to check for any special Features possessed by the Pistol. As it happens, the gun is as utilitarian as it is tough.Thereare none, and so we leave the stats as they are. Lets take a more diverse weapon for an example. Opening the 1978Gun Digestat random, w e f i n d listed thestatisticson amediumpriced hunting rifle made b y a well-known firm of gunsmiths. The information tells us it is 5.5 Ibs in weight, has a 22 barrel, is a Bolt action rifle, with a 5 round trap loading integral magazine, and is The brief blurb under the made in calibers 222, 30-30, and 30-06. hard-data listing indicates that the barrel is drilled and tapped for a scope mount, has a recoil pad, and swivel sling mounts. The write up of the Spec Sheet goes as follows: NAME: Remchester BAR (for Bolt Action Rifle) BEL: Rifle (At 22 the weapon falls into this category. At 20or less, the usual standards would call for a Carbine classification, although the Gamesmaster can alter this. The M-16, for example,
How We Figured Things Out

This is in the nature of Designer Noteson the Firearms Simulation, inserted here to make expansions or changes by our readers easier. The Firearms rules are far and away one of the most detailed elements of the Aftermath! system. They represent hundreds of hours of research, design, and testing. There are n o reliable figures on how many foot-pounds of bullet energy will make a h o l e s o many inches deep in a human being, or what the chances of stopping effects are on any non-arbitrary scale, though combat ballistics has addressed the problem o some degree. As to asking firearms buffs about handling characteristics of their guns, hoo boy! Our first consultant would give his stamp of approval to a rule (a former cop who still fires on a range for fun) and then our playtesterwho went to West Point allows as how that rule is wrong. We though we had troubles with the hand-to-hand rules! In the end, it evolved as you have read it. Here we show you the clanking machinery by which the game figures are derived from the dry numbers of ballistics tables and g u n catalogues. Do with them as you will. BDG-The formula for calculating the BDG is easy. Obtain a Batlistics Table for standard ammunition (they are usually free at your local sporting goods store or gun shop. Many of the source books in the Bibliography includeafull set). Oneofthefiguresgiven is the Muzzle Enerqy of the round, in foot/oounds of kinetic energy. Divide that figure by 100, a n d voila! You have the BDG. You will note that we have altered some of the figures directly obtained by this method. 44 Magnum, fired from a 6 barrel on a handgun, has a Muzzle Energy of 1150 ft/lb. This would give a BDG of 12 (1150/100=1 1.5, nearest, for 12). This is just not high enough to fill the niche in the game filled by 44 Magnum: the big manstopper slug. So we have arbitrarily juiced it u p to its current value of 21, to get it that extra D10 of damage. If it is necessary to figure the Muzzle Energy for some round for which you lack the figure, since we did not include every cartridge known to man in the standard table, the formula for the figure is: ME in ft./lb.= Mass of Bullet in Grains x (Muzzle Velocity in feet per second) x (2.22 x Remember that there are 480 grains to the ounce. If you need to roughly figure the mass of a slug out, this
a3
formula may help. It is accurate only for the Mass of a Lead musket ball. It will be off the mark for modern bullets which are neither spherical nor necessarily made of lead. Mass in Grains = 1500 x (Caliber in i n ~ h e s ) ~ . As with the BDG formula for Muzzle Loaders in the Firearms rules, remember to use the fractional values of the Caliber inches, or you
will get the mass of a cannon ball, not a bullet! The application of these formulae will allow fine-tuned results, for the detail fiends among you. Likewise, i f you decide to include such off-the-wall guns as the British EM-2 experimental Infantry Rifle, with its 28 Caliber load, at a muzzle velocity of 2530 fthec, then you can work out the BDG for the gun. (It is roughly 5, or 10 to 12 from a Rifle.)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
FICTION
Anthony, Piers The Battle Circle A trilogy of novels set in a curiously barbaric-cum-technological culture, some 500 years after a nuclear war. Barrett, Neal Adair of Albion The adventures of animal-descended heroes, seeking the lost race of Man in a ruined world. The Millenia After the Ruin type of Campaign. Brunner, John The Sheep Look Up Pre-Ruin environment in a world heading for suicide by pollution. Budrys. Algis Some Will Not Die Primary and Secondary Kill through first few generations. Postplague world, tracing organization of various communities. Valuable for political view of an Aftermath! world. Burroughs, E.R. Lost Continent Also published as Beyond Thirty. Adventures of intrepid American hero exploring the savage junglesof post-Ruin Europe. Ideal outline for those using Conventional Warfare as Ruin. Ellison, Harlan
A Boy A n d His Dog
Wells, H.G. War of the Worlds Classic novel of the invasion of Earth and the destruction of its civilization by the Martians.
SOURCE BOOKS
Bearse, Ray Sporting Arms of the World Comprehensive guide to sporting firearms, target weapons, and other civilian weapons in modern use. Draeger, Don and Smith, Robert Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts. Compact and informative guide to armed and unarmed martial arts of the Far East. Gervasi, Tom Arsenal of Democracy Invaluable guide to American military vehicles, weapons, etc. made today for domestic use and for export. Includes aircraft, naval vessels, small arms, artillery. etc. Herring, William Ballistics and The Muzzle Loading Rifle Compact study of the ballistics of black powder firearms. Clear and readable. McGregor, Malcolm Armoured Fighting Vehicles Survey of the tank and armored car from WWll to the present. Owen, J.I.H. Brasseys Artillery of the World Broad guide to direct and indirect fire artillery ordance in modern use. Owen, J.I.H., Ed. Brasseys Infantry Weapons of the World Comprehensive reference work on military issue small arms, machine guns, grenades, and other personal and support weapons in use by modern infantry. Rivlere, Bill The Gunners Bible Detailed introduction to modern firearms for the beginner. Smith, W.H.B. and Smith J.E. Small Arms of the World A wide-ranging guide to military firearms in use from WWll to the mid-Sixties.
First Generation. A short story, available in many collections. This has also been made into a motion picture. Life among the tough young survivors in a semi-ruined city. The character of Blood, the Dog of the title, is well worth studying. Frank, Pat Alas. Babylon Classic novel of the challengesto survival faced by asmall town after a nuclear war. Miller, Waiter Canticle For Liebowitz 200 Years After -and then some. Agood view of the climb back from medieval to modern level after a nuclear war. Interesting in that the Catholic Church is seen as the conservator of the Old Knowledge, specifically of the printed page. Moorcock, Michael The Land Leviathan Novel styled on Wells, et. al., depicting struggle to survive in world reduced to barbarism by conventional warfare. Niven, Larry and Pournelie, Jerry Lucifers Hammer Pre- and Post-Ruin in a world destroyed by the fall of a giant comet onto the Earth. Detailed view of the problems facing a survivor community. Norton. Andre Starmans Son Also published as Daybreak 2250 AD. The story of a young tribesman living in a 200 Years After the Ruin environment. Pangborn, Edgar Davy Irreverent novel set in a post-holocaust America, underthe thumb of a know-nothing religion. Political satire in a work of interest in setting up a Campaign. Still IPersist in Wondering More stories from the world of Davy.
PERIODICALS
xxi
Guns Illustrated An annual digest of articles, data, and advertising. Includes an illustrated section on EVERY major firearm available for public Sale in the US.
xx2
Gun Digest An annual publication of great value to the Campaigner who needs more data on firearms. Comprehensive listing of firearms available in the US.,profusely illustrated.
xx3
Soldier of Fortune Hairy-chested but informative magazine often dealing with the subject of post-collapse survival. Advertising sections include publishers of many other useful works.
84
CONTENTS
Lefty's Trading Post and Flophouse The Situation.. Notes on Action in the Tavern Room The Cast.. After the Brawl The Disease.. The Hideout.. Armor Kit Table Closing Remarks Character and Object Markers Map of Lefty's Place Map of the Hideout..
................................... 2 ................................ . 5 ............................... .5 ................................. . 5 ............................... .5 ............................... 5 ..................5 ........................... 3 .......................... 4
............. 2 .............................. . 2 ......... . 2
Designers: Bob Charrette Paul Hume
MAP KEY
y-
U.S. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Copyright 1981 by Robert N. Charrette and Paul R. Hume. All rights to this book are reserved. No part of the book may be used or reproduced In any manner whatsoever without permission, except In the case of brief quotatlonsembodled In critical articles or reviews. Box, cover art and all lllustratlons are copyright @ 1981 by Robert N. Charrette. For Information regarding this game contact Fantasy Games Unlimited. Inc.; P.O. Box 182; Roslyn, N.Y. 11576 The deslgners will attempt to answer any questlons regardlng the game. Please type the question allowing space lor the answer on the same sheet and enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Send the letter In care of Fantasy Games Unilmlted.
u
,,,I $ ,
------ %
Door Door with Push Bar Sliding Door Elevator Door See-thru Door
Window See-thru Section of Wall
Counter or Railing Stairs Ladder
---------- Significant Line ,- --
'
Significant Area
Designation for Non-standard version
Walls give an indication of their structural strength by the thickness of the line.
SURVIVE!
An Introductory Scenario
This scenario pack is designed to allow players to get the feel of Aftermath! movement and combat rules. The background presented is generalized t o allow a Gamesmaster t o fit it into his own campaign. Beginning characters are assumed. When the players have finished constructing their characters, the Gamesmaster may inform them that they have met and formed a group since their individual efforts in combing the ruins have not met with much success recently. The sight of their meeting is Leftys Trading Post and Flophouse.
Leftys Trading Post and Flophouse

This establishment is well known in the area. I t is a haven for ruin-combers and a place to barter found goods for more useful items. Survivor communities in the area make use of it and have an informal agreement to protect the neutrality of the establishment. It is located in the basement of a building which, although the upper stories are gone, remains sound structurally. Leftys place allows weary adventurers a place to stay for the night and a meal for a few barter points provided they follow the house rules. All firearms and explosives are checked at the door. Leftys gun checkroom is well armed and armored. Patrons receive a check which will redeem their weapons when they leave the premises. Ammunition is allowed t o remain with customers. Assault of house employees is cause for immediate ejection and forfeiture of one half (or some equitable division approaching half) of any weapons checked by the rowdy customer. Brawls are not forbidden but all involved are fined equally for damages. It is custom that brawls are conducted with non-lethal weapons and fists. Any employing lethal force without provocation are subject to the same penalty as for assaulting house personnel. Casualties of brawls forfeit half of checked weapons to the House while the remainder is split between the victors of the brawl and any surviving members of the losers side of the brawl. Lefty and his people are known for their fairness in all dealings. This is a necesity for them to continue their business. Characters should have no fear of losing weapons checked at the door. If anyone decided to try to smuggle firearms or explosives inside, he should inform the Gamesmaster of the attempt. The Gamesmaster must determine the success of the attempt and, if unsuccessful, when and how the rule violater is revealed.
not insignificant amount of spilled food. This will result in areas of Treacherous Ground and can add a little slapstick to the overall sober tone of the situation. Chairs are-all small and tables are all medium if anyone cares to indulge in a game of furniture toss. It is a safe assumption that any occupied table will have dishes and drinking vessels on them if only to make a colorful clatter as a character goes sailing along the top after being thrown by another beligerant. Replacement fees and damages due to breakage from the brawl are left to the Gamesmaster to adjudicate as befits the value of such items in his campaign.
The Cast
THE CAST
DFT SPD HLH 13 18 30 BAP MNA PCA CDA DRT 11 2 5 2 45 Skills: Brawling (20/4); Rifle, Modern (16); Commerce (17); Knife (12) Armor: Denim shirt (4-9, 21-28, HC); Fatigue pants (10-18. HC); Combat boots (19-20,LL); Vest (4-9,PX) Weapons: Trench Knife Notes: Will only get involved i n the brawl if necessary to protect his operation or personnel. He keeps a shotgun SGlO in 10 Gauge, behind the bar.
15 8 22
Lefty, owner (48) WT WL STR
Leftys Boys
All 4 of these men are Superior Quality Veterans. Their primary Combat Skills are Brawling and Knife. All have Secondary Skills of Rifle and Pistol, Modern and Throwing. Their armor is determined using the Armor Kit Table at the end of the scenario pack.
Joey Whites Gang

Joey himself is a Superior Quality character while the bulk of his gang is only Average Quality. All areTrained level with Brawling, Knife, Throwing, and Single Weapon. Each carries Brass Knuckles, a Bowie Knife, and a Cudgel. Their armor kits are determined using the table at the end of thescenario pack. The gang will break off from combat if in serious danger of losing. If Joey is seriously injured he will initiate lethal combat by drawing his knife or breaking a bottle. The gang will follow suit to support him. The Gamesmaster should adjust the number of members in the gang to suit the number of player characters. Thegang should outnumber them by about 30%. There will be no firearms to be split by thevictors if Whites gang loses as they cached their weapons nearby to avoid such a possibility.
The Situation
The player characters are sitting at atablediscussing their plans when a group of tough-looking customers enter the tavern room. The new group moves t o the bar, and after casually assessing the crowd, approaches the table at which the player characters are seated. Opening the conversation with This is our table that you scum are slobbering on, the new group proceeds t o pick a fight. The player characters have just met Joey White and his gang. They make part of their living by winning brawls in Leftys Trading Post and Flophouse. The Gamesmaster: can easily escalate the brawl into including most of the patrons on the premises by such means as misthrown punches, hurtling bodies, poorly aimed missiles, etc. This free-for-all is intended to get players used to the movement and hand-to-hand combat rules.
Other Patrons
The number and natureof other patrons in the tavern room is left to the Gamesmaster. This can prove to be a good way of trying out some ideas. One might be adept in Unarmed Combat or another of the more exotic Hand-to-Hand Combat Skills. Another might be the classic big, dumb guy with a 40 in Strength but only a 2 or 3 in Wit. Be careful notto overdo it because there will probably be more than enough statistics floating around for a first attempt at running this sort of game.
Notes on Action in the Tavern Room

Remember that this is an eating and drinking establishment so that if afight startsthereis likelyto besome
After the Brawl

After the brawl the player characters may spend the rest of the night in peace. The next morning, however, they will discover that one of the regular patrons died (of a terrible disease) during the night. All present in the Tavern the previous night may be presumed to have been exposed. A raid was conducted on the Trading Post's medical supplies and the possible antidote stolen. One of the raiders wasshot while fleeing. If questioned he will reveal that Joey White's gang was responsible. He will also reveal their hideout but will die of his wounds before any other useful data can be gotten from him. All of Lefty's boys have dontracted the disease and some of the player characters are showing early signs. It is up t o the player characters to recover the antidote in time to save themselves and, if they are feeling noble, the other patrons of the Trading Post.
THE HIDEOUT
The Hideout is an old factory. All exterior doors have been broken open except the loading dock doors which are frozen shut due t o lack of power. The machinery present in the main room is considered impervious to bullets. It will take a character 1D3 Actions to clamber t o a perch on top of a piece. Movement along the top is on Treacherous Ground. The machinery provides Full Cover when a character is on the floor. It will provide 1 Meter Cover against fire from the top of other machinery and Chest Cover against fire from a character on the floor. The rubble piles are Treacherous Ground but will provide Prone Cover against opponents on the floor but no cover against any on the machinery. The survivors of White's gang will be here. There will also be 4 more members of the gang. These are Average Quality Novices. Other statistics are as given earlier. All members of the gang are armed with Rifles R12 except for Joey and one other. Joey uses an M1 rifle as a Primary weapon. Firearms are Secondary weapons for all other members of the gang. The character without the rifle is carrying a Shotgun SG2 in 10 gauge with 00 buck ammunition. Each member of the gang has 10 plus 2D6 rounds of ammunition. At the start of the player characters' assault and/or negotiations, the gang will be scattered throughout the building. Their exact disposition is left t o the Gamesmaster and should be decided before the player characters reach the factory. Once the gang, or its individual members, is alerted to the presence of the adventurers, they will attempt to warn the others and regroup with their leader to receive orders. Note to Gamesmaster: I f Joey has been killed in the brawl, his function in the Hideout will be performed by "his brother Jim". This character exists only t o provide the gang with a leader. If Joey survived, Jim does not come into play in this scenario.
The Disease
If the Gamesmaster is feeling kindly, he may allow the player characters t o be free from the danger of the disease. He should not tell them this if it is so. Allow them to think that they have it. Later those "early signs" of the disease can be chalked up to paranoia. The disease is coded:
A - (-) - HLH - 24 hours - 4-12 hours Dizziness and Deftness Disfunction.
Armor Kit Table (1010)

Die Roll Armor Kit
1-3
3-6 7-9 10
Fatigues (4-18, 21-28, HC); Combat boots (18-20, LL); Hat (1, HC) As 1-3 plus Gloves (29-30, LL) Steel Helmet (1, SP) As 3-6 plus Jacket (4-9, 21-28, SY) As 7-9 plus Helmet (1-2, MP); Flak Vest (4-12, LP-MS)
In the case of headgear assume the best protection is the only such item that the character has with him.
Closing Remarks
Remember that this scenario pack is for your aid and is not in itself gospel. It was written to allow room for you as Gamesmaster to exercise your own creativity and ingenuity. Adjust it to suit you own campaign. As you add or subtract from it, recall that balance is needed if everyone involvedis to enjoy the adventure.
r
I
Character and Object Markers

To use these markers, cut individual markers free and store in a container until needed. These markers are provided as a convenience. If you have miniature figures to use go right ahead as they will surely add to enjoyment. Use as many markers as you wish and/or need to represent the situation.
GENERATORI ROOM
The Hideout
SHOWER 1
MANAGER'S OFFICE
I
.earnino rate
YT Group)
Aye Group Size Healing Rate

IHLH Grouol
Base Age Bulk
Actual Aye
Looks
Rscog. Factor Personal EWC

to allocate
Talents (15 + 206 = -points

Bur
:reelv lmorovable Skills

I
NT
d WLI
Shock Factor
(101 Healing Rate)
K I I I I I STR 1
I
TR Group
3FTGro
Damage Resistance Total

fHLH
+
STR
WLI
laximum Number of Actior Damage Taken
ase Action Phase

;PO AST)
LethalSubdual Total
- -- -- ---- ------
A l l D c ~ ~ d Cuntnl
SPOI
I
~~ ~~~
hases Consumed in Action

l8APIMNAj.d)
Critical damage
Iocation amount
Changed
ombat Dodge Ability

OFT 6 SPD)/20.n)
8CS
unencumbered
partially Enc.
fully Enc.
On Belt
LOC
1
Item
ENC
3
4
6
7
8 9
10
Left Slung Right Slung Left Hand Right Hand Pockets

1
2 5
I
5 5
?
Average Armor Value suns

Weapon Format Action Magazine Caliber Capacity (BDG)
ENC
Type
length
Format
VOluC
WOM
ENC
ENC Carried
Worn
Total
story of
Characters Name
current merit total Areas

Fighter, HTH , missile , gun Personal Bravery Survival, self , others
~
current Rep total
Hunter, HTH , missile , gun Competence nontech skill
tech skill
high tech skill
Other
Gear
ENC
ENC
matches (3D6) .01/5 flint & steel (1D3 flint) .01 chalk (1 D3) .01 snares (2D3) .05 magnifying lens .1 0 compass .1 jackknife .1 .2(fu II) 1 L canteen space blanket .1
Actual Age
Looks
Recog. Factor Personal EHC

to allocate
Cuntnl
Talents (15 + 206 = -points
Bum
AllocJtId
---
-----
Changed
unencumbered partially Enc.
fully Enc.
Skills Off-hand Dexterity Brawling Survival,
SCORE
BCS
Average Armor Value
Guns
Weapon Format Action
Magazine Capacity
Caliber
Yeapons
ENC we length Formal
(EDG)
Survival Value
wOM
ENC
Rep
story of
Character'sName
current merlt total Areas Fighter, HTH , missile , gun Personal Bravery
~ ~~
current Rep total

Positive Merit Merit
Raling
__
Survival, self , others Hunter, HTH , missile , gun Competence nontech skill
tech skill
high tech skill
Other
Gear
ENC
ENC
matches (3D6) .01/5 0 flint & steel (1D3 flint) . 1 chalk (103) .01 .05 snares (2D3) magnifying lens .01 compass .1 jackknife .1 1 C canteen .2(full) "space" blanket .1
IAge Group
WT
--
Learning rate
WT Group)
Size Healing Rate

(HLH Group)
Base Age Bulk
Actual Age
looks
Talents (15 + 206 Charismatic Combative Communicative Esthetic Mechanical Natural Scientific Changed
Recog. Factor Personal ENC
= -points
Bua
to allocate
Cunenl
Freely Improvable Skills

WT 6 WL)
Shock Factor
(10. Healing Rate)
;TR Group
DFTGrp
Damage Resistance Total

IHLH
STR
8
WLI
laximum Number of Actions Damage Taken

L t aeh l-
lase Action Phase

SPD AST)
Subdual
has6 Consumed in Action

I(BAPIMNA).d)
Tola1
--SCORE
Allocated
-----
Critical damage
location
:ombat Dodge Ability

fDFT & SPDIl20 nl
arnounl
unencumbered partially Enc.
fully Enc.
Skills Off-hand Dexterity Brawling Survival,
BCS
On Belt
LOC
1
Item ENC
2 3
4
5 6
7
9
10
Left Slung Right Slung Left Hand Right Hand Pockets

I
I
I
b
Average Armor Value
;uns
Neapon Formal Action
Magazine Capacity
Caliber (BDG)
Weapons
ENC Type lenglh Formal
Survival Value
WDM
ENC
ENC Carried
Worn
Total
story of
Characteri Name
Rep current merit total Areas

Fighter, H T H , missile Personal Braverv Survival, self , others Hunter, HTH , missile gun
t
current Rep total

Poaitive Merit
Negative Merit
Overall Rating
Other
Gear
ENC
ENC
matches (306) .01/5 flint & steel (1D3 flint) .01 chalk (103) .01 snares (2D3) .05 magnifying lens .01 compass .1 jack knife .1 1 C canteen .2 (fu II) space blanket .1

FGUn AM Aftermath

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le Plavina Game set in

Encumbrance Maximum value carried with status

Enter Armor Value on Location covered

In Pack or Bag (Capacity

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

ATTRIBUTE GROUP CHART

This is a negative reaction It can indicate growing hostility

An undecided reaction with leanings to the negative

ltindicatesgrowing fri--*'.. linaness - ._ is e aid

--j before it is requested

---3ANCE VALUE CHART

0.1 0.3 0.6 1.o 3.5 7.0

Lt ..... light Hvy . VH' MS

VLg . .very large

VARIATION IN CHARACTER STANCE DUE T O POSITIONING Presented Frontal

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

y Robert N. Charrett and Paul R. Humt

MISSILE SPECIAL EFFECTS TABLE D100 RESULT

21-30 Flesh wound: damage is adjusted to

Shotguns Slug Load Shot Load Full Choke Modified Choke

minus 25% minus 50%

* Unless weapon is specified as having another

41-70 71-85 86-95

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

Special Developmental Assistance: Jason Krause,

Playtesters: Jason Rein, Sean Morris,

Special Thanks to Scott Bizar for having faith.

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

.................. 1 ............................. 2 ......................... 2 ........................ 2 ....................... 2 .... 3 .................... 3

.. 1 ........................... 1 ............ 1 ... 1

............................ ............... ... ................................ .................... .......... ................................

.... .............. ......... ........................... ............... .......... ... ..........................

... ............. ............ ........................... .......... ........................... ...................... .......................

................... .............. ......... ......... ......................... .... ...................

: Appendix 1 Reaction Table ............. 56 Appendix 2 Combat Procedure Flowchart 57

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

WHAT IS A FANTASY ROLE PLAYING GAME?

FANTASY ROLE PLAYING GAME

WHOS WHO IN T H E ROLE PLAYING GAME?

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

MEET THE GAME

SOME CONVENTIONS USED IN THE TEXT

READING THE RULES

DEFINING THE CHARACTER

TEMPORARY ALTERATION OF ATTRIBUTES

ATTRIBUTE GROUP CHART

45-54 55-64 65-74 6 7 8 2D10+1 2D10+2 2D10+2

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

LEARNING RATE A characters Learning Rate is the base used t o determine

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

BASE ACTION PHASE

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

THE BASIC TALENTS

RAW TALENT USE

Stephen Yendle (order #1486981)

SPECIAL TALENT ABILITIES

ADDITIONAL TALENT BENEFITS

FREELY IMPROVABLE SKILLS

DAMAGE RESISTANCE TOTAL

COMBAT DODGE ABILITY